Basketball, Banned at Park Since 1981, Will Return

The Culver City Council voted to allow a basketball hoop to be reintroduced at a park where the sport has been prohibited since 1981.

With the council chambers packed with more than 100 observers--many of them youngsters supporting the return of basketball--the four council members present voted unanimously to bring basketball back to Fox Hills Park for a 90-day trial period.

The city voted 17 years ago to remove hoops from the park--on a hill in the city’s southern end--after some neighbors complained about noise, crime and parking problems. At the time, some accused the council of racism because park-users were primarily black and the unhappy neighbors primarily white.

During the trial period, supervised play will be allowed from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and from noon to 5 p.m. weekends. At other times, the hoop will be locked and unusable.

The hoop should be up in about two weeks, recreation supervisor Elliot Heffler said Tuesday.

Willie Turner, vice president of the Fox Hills Property Owners Assn., spoke against reviving basketball at Monday night’s meeting, citing noise problems and inadequate supervision.

But Fox Hills resident Patricia Jordan said she and other homeowners in the area support “basketball returning in an organized, structured and supervised manner.”