Game Over at the Park: Score It a Net Loss

Don’t you hate it when the bad guys win?

I’m not talking about the score of a pick-up basketball game. I mean the important stuff, like citizens being able to enjoy a city park whenever they want. Like being able to walk around, day or night, without fear.

Anaheim residents who use Twila Reid Park out on the city’s west side may think they’ve won. The violence and fear that emanated from the outdoor basketball courts in recent years has dropped off, because the troublemakers who caused it don’t come around much anymore.

And they don’t come around because the city has taken down the basketball hoops. In short, nobody plays basketball at Reid Park these days.

The hoops came down last summer on a six-month trial basis. Since then, police calls to the park have dropped 50%, according to city recreation superintendent Terry Lowe. Just as important, he says, calls for more serious problems or crimes have fallen drastically.

For whatever reasons, the basketball court had become the focal point for fights, drug deals and a host of other problems, Lowe says.

The improved atmosphere most likely means the City Council will follow the park commission’s recommendation to keep the hoops out of the park.

Anaheim will survive without basketball in Reid Park. Lowe points out that nine other city facilities within a one-mile radius have basketball courts.

It’s just that those backboards that still stand at the park--minus their rims and nets--are reminders that we’ve lost something.

What’s so maddening is that Reid Park is such a perfect complement to city life. It’s not far off the endless retail and commercial strip that is Beach Boulevard. Make the turn off Beach and head west on Orange Avenue and there it is--a green urban oasis flanked by attractive, well-kept neighborhoods.

Mundane as they are, the basketball courts just seem like something worth fighting for.

Parkgoers Willing to Forfeit

Most of the parkgoers I talked to Thursday don’t see it that way. The consensus was that, yes, they’re giving up something, but it’s a price they’re willing to pay for peace of mind.

“I’d rather have the good guys take over than the bad guys,” says Kathy Warren, a 40ish woman walking her two dogs. “It was the only way to do it, because it was getting out of hand.”

She says some of the hoopsters appeared to be flaunting gang involvement to the point that other parkgoers were intimidated. Then, there was the problem of the ongoing profanity coming from the courts and the loud music from the cars, sometimes double-parked in the adjacent lot. With me about five feet away from her, she says, “You and I literally could not stand here and talk with the music playing,” she says.

On the other side of the twin courts, a group of eight moms are enjoying the day as their children frolic on the playground. We talk for a few minutes and there isn’t a dissenting voice among them: The hoops had to come down to make the park enjoyable again.

None told of being hassled, but all suggested the loud, profane nature of the games and the attitude of some of the players made them uncomfortable and fearful. Last summer, a shooting occurred in the area around the courts. While saying that most of the hoopsters weren’t troublemakers, Lowe says problems around the courts included alleged drug deals, public urination and general harassment.

While talking to people in the park, I was under the erroneous impression the city is considering reducing the park’s hours. That isn’t in the works, but only one of the several people I talked to suggested they’d object even to a reduction in hours.

Sad, huh?

You ought to be able to play basketball in the park. We shouldn’t have to surrender any part of our havens.

I’m not saying the city is wrong in eliminating basketball from the park.

I’m just saying, don’t count this as a victory.

The bad guys may be gone, but they still won.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.