Banning Hoops: A Personal Foul
Re “Regulators Take a Shot at Portable Hoops,” Sept. 24:
Not only are Orange County communities continuing to lead the nation in placing property values ahead of the welfare of children, but some of them are now so hypocritical as to pretend that their concern is for safety.
What’s next? Will they prohibit children from walking across streets? At least the Nellie Gail Ranch manager had the decency to admit that it was an aesthetic issue.
From my misguided point of view, an aesthetically pleasing neighborhood is one where there are visible signs of children engaging in normal play at their own homes. I guess they could always be inside doing drugs or watching TV rather than shooting baskets.
When I visit my daughter in Palo Alto, a place where property values have gone through the roof, she takes us jogging past the home of Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs. A block or so away lives quarterback Steve Young, and all the homes nearby cost way over a million dollars. As we round the corner from Jobs’ house, there in the driveway of a mansion is (gasp) a basketball hoop. There goes the neighborhood? I doubt it.
BILL McINTYRE
San Clemente
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
