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Confrontation between DPW crew, residents over a Dorchester basketball hoop ends peacefully
By adamg on Fri, 05/08/2015 - 7:55am
Somebody filed a complaint with the city about one of those movable basketball backboard/hoop things sitting at the corner of Whitfield and Dunlap streets in Dorchester, saying somebody will get killed by a car and the kids playing basketball make too much of a ruckus at night.
A DPW crew went out to remove the hoop, but as a supervisor reports:
As we attempted to remove basketball hoop but were approached by many constituents which stated the kids in the neighborhood use that hoop and they would not let us remove it. so we asked them to move it off the [sidewalk] and into a yard so [therefore] the hoop was moved.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
I'd rather hear the
I'd rather hear the basketball dribbling than see kids who don't have anything to do getting involved in gangs.
For goodness sakes, if you don't want to hear noise, move to the cow pastures.
Cow Pastures can be Noisy, too
Farming can be a noisy 24-hour situation, too.
What's a neighborhood
without that one angry old fart complaining about kids playing. Damn bouncing balls, kids running around having fun! Because its Dot the old fart can't say get off my lawn so they call the city to have the hoop confiscated. Those kids should have an all day tourney tomorrow and really piss em off!
It's the Yuppies
Who do the complaining, there are no old farts left. It's a Yuppie who was complaining on Citizens Connect about the basketball courts on West Fifth Street being noisy. It was the Yuppies who called the cops because little eight year old girls were playing hopscotch in front of their "luxury" condo. It was the Yuppies who called the cops when the kids were playing wiffle ball on the corner.
I'd rather the kids be
I'd rather the kids be quietly studying or reading a book to better themselves for a career or profession. The overemphasis on sports in society is wasting children's efforts on athletics when they should be focused on academics or skills as part of a trade.
Don't troll
Sports and study are compliments to each other. I wouldn't've be half the student I was without some way to blow off steam, compete, learn to operate as a group, and more importantly have fun. The college athletics industry is harmful, yes, so are many athletics-focused programs as the high school level - I like the idea of clubs not-associated with a local school like they have almost anywhere else in the world - but kids need to play and shouldn't be hampered in that by grousy neighbors without a real complaint to begin with..
Thanks for your input, Captain Scoldy McMoralizer.
nt
Please
Sports teaches kids a hell of a lot more than art and music class. You want to make cuts, cut out high school art, make it an after school activity just like sports.
Sorry you never made any teams, you should have tried harder.
Said one troll to another
Seems like the only thing worth cutting is the viewpoints of both these anon nutjobs.
Sorry you've never acknowleged
the fact that many kids (like myself when I was in grammar school) don't have enough athletic ability to effectively participate in organized sports, but can still have fun and get good exercise by participating in something like an impromptu pick up game with their buddies on the street.
I'm sorry... what? Sports
I'm sorry... what? Sports does not teach kids a hell of a lot more than art and music. No need to pit one against another. Plenty of us do both. Ever try making something with your hands? Creating a sculpture or a painting takes skill, focus and dedication. Sorry you couldn't blow a note on a horn and didn't make junior high chorus. Reading music is like reading another language. Talk to me when you can sight-read a Bach fugue and play it well.
As one who was never good
at either organized sports or reading music in grammar school and junior high, I will freely acknowledge that attending music class, as painful as it was at times, did far more for my social and cultural development than trying my hand at organized sports ever did.
Much the same could be said for my experience in art class. However, unlike music class, I actually enjoyed it and was reasonably good at drawing and sculpting as well - although I never considered pursuing art as a lifetime career.
^
Supports childhood obesity and anti social tendencies.
Agreed. Children and leisure
Agreed. Children and leisure just don't mix.
Found the Complainant
^
I'd rather consult research on physical activity, art, academics
For you:
http://www.sparkpe.org/blog/how-physical-activity-affects-academic-perfo...
For the anti-arts troll:
http://www.nasaa-arts.org/Publications/critical-evidence.pdf
You want kids to have working brains? Get them off their rear ends, away from the books for a while, and into playing with stuff. There's more to brain development than reading!
Move to
Japan.
For goodness sake if you want move runaway to the circus
Everyone deserves a reasonalbe level of peace and quiet in their home and neighborhood. That is part of what makes a neighborhood pleasant or crappy. In this instance the neighborhood kids have a right to play and enjoy themselves. The residents have a right to peace and quiet. Compromise of the competing desire is a lot better than a slam "If they want quiet move out to the country."
The same reasoning applies to trash. It's a city; people will throw trash on the street. Why bother spending the money to pick it up when it will just be replaced. If a person wants clean streets, clean yards, move to a gated community where polluters are shot.
Somehow I don't think that works very well.
We are polluting our local world with a lot of noise. A person can't go to a museum or a church service without cameras taking pictures or video recording (even church services) without the chirps and beeps. Apparently many folks do not know or care that they could at least turn off the volume on their noisy devices.
I have three cameras. Cell phone, small digital and DSLR. I don't need any of them chiriping and beeping. The DSLR makes a mechanical noise. But then I respect the limits of a space such as a museum and don't use it there.
It comes down to be acknowledging that other people exists and asking what kind of environment works for everyone.
True.....
I would add that kids playing outside (at a reasonable hour) isn't really noise.
You want noise?
Leaf blowers are vastly noisier than kids playing pick up ball on the street.
Seriously, lets outlaw childhood - too dangerous, too noisy!
Dickensonian solutions to 21st century problems
If we only repealed child labor laws there'd be no need for underpaid illegal aliens!
THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Our greatest underutilized resource......
-United Gruel Company, Inc.*
*a subsidiary of the American Conglomerated Orphans Company, LTD.
WHAT DO WE WANT: Silence!
WHAT DO WE WANT: Silence!
WHEN DO WE WANT IT: Stop with the goddamn chanting!
No, its actually music to my
No, its actually music to my ears. Signs of summer! The kids behind me are now grown so I don't hear them out playing any longer, but the house across the street have kids now just old enough to be outside at dusk.
To me it's like the peepers, its part of summer and God knows I was one of those noisy kids out on the street well after dark. Heck, now that I think of it it seems our parents wanted us around in the house as little as possible during summer. TV wasn't allowed on during the day and on a nice warm evening, nothing would've kept us inside.
Having said that, I can understand no one wanting to hear basketball bouncing at 2am.
there's a fine line
Between having reasonable levels of noise, and letting busybodies dictate how we live our lives.
We have to be careful that we don't end up with a tyranny of the hypersensitive.
Or a tyranny of the insensitive
Given the quantity and reach of boom boom cars, motorcyles audilble half a mile away, folks talking to the cell phones at twice the volume as to a person standing next to them - I would say that the insensitive are taking over.
Kids and basketball. Hell, let me join. I probably would learn a lot. But at reasonable hours as well and if possible in a location that works for everyone in the neighborhood.
I lived near a street where neighborhoods kids frequently played on the street. Their parents were often outside. I got to know the parents, recognize the kids and in general felt I was part of the neighborhood because I recognized people and go to know people. That was a block where nobody would mess with anyone. Hard to be safer.
All because the kids were playing on the street and the parents and other neighbors were out on the street as well. Jane Jacob's observation that the quality of life on a street is based on the life on the street is probably one of the wisest observations concerning urban life to be found.
One need not run away to join the Circus.
You only need 200 signatures to get on the ballot for Boston City Council.
If only we know who was running
If only someone would post a list of candidates for Boston City Council, perhaps in places completely unrelated to the election and barely related to the City Council.
If only.
I'm not usually one to
I'm not usually one to complain about things like this, but which part of "at night" is everybody missing? If they're playing before 11pm, fine, let them play, but if there's ball bouncing, laughing, and teenagers shouting at 1am on a quiet residential street, I can see that being a totally valid complaint - some people have kids, some have to wake up at 5am to make it to work on time.
We're not talking about downtown bar alley being loud on a Friday night.
If having a lot of space to
If having a lot of space to set up outdoor recreation for the kids to play into all hours of the night is of high importance, then maybe living in a cramped apartment in the city on a busy street isn't the best option anymore for your family.
Looks like some version of
Looks like some version of that hoop has been there since at least August 2014! If no one's been hit on a one way approaching a stop sign yet, I think they'll be okay. How many want to bet the constituents moved the hoop right back after DPW left?
https://goo.gl/maps/Bdk1M
If the complaint is coming
If the complaint is coming from residents on either side of that hoop, then they certainly have a legit gripe if these kids are playing late into the night. Its practically in the windows of two of those homes.
I doubt the complainants live
I doubt the complainants live right there. If so, they would just move it or get the landlord to do so. I consider the sidewalk outside of my house mostly mine. I throw out crap left there all the time. If I didn't like the hoop, I'd throw it out, too.
Depending on the types of
Depending on the types of people we are dealing with here, just throwing their stuff out might not be the safest option unless you're looking for a fight. And who is to say the landlord is even available to speak with? These look like two and three family homes, so there could be multiple people considering that the sidewalk outside is theirs.