Bill Morem: SLO basketball hoop policy isn’t a flagrant foul

By Bill Morem

Every few years, Jay Walter, San Luis Obispo’s public works director, gets complaints about portable basketball hoops blocking city streets or sidewalks.

The complaints trigger a municipal code warning and violation that can lead to confiscation of the hoop. It’s generally not a big deal. Four or five such complaints were generated out of a South Broad Street neighborhood a few years ago. More recently, an Edna/Islay neighborhood homeowners association filed hoop complaints.

Tim Blair received a city notice to move the hoop near his home. He wrote to us: “Over the last two years, our city has been ridding itself of a public eyesore, the dreaded basketball hoop. Yesterday (March 14), I got a final notice on the hoop by my house that stated it was in violation of a city code.”

He wrote of the “joyous sounds of kids and parents having fun” and how hoops can help curb childhood obesity. “One would think,” he wrote, “that disconnecting from video games to go out and shoot some hoops would be something our city would encourage.”

Who could argue with that? Indeed, is the city policy a flagrant foul against childhood health that pivots on an issue like neighborhood eyesores?

Not quite. As it turns out, there aren’t any baseline baddies here.

A father himself, Walter wants to see youngsters play in a safe environment such as their own front yards. He doesn’t see the city’s position as a full-court press against fun.

“We don’t want them to take their hoops down — just to move them onto their own property,” Walter said.

And it’s not that hoops can’t be set up on city property— although it isn’t city policy to encourage children to play in the streets. Officials just want the hoops stored on private property when not in use.

It’s simply a matter of courtesy, said City Administrative Officer Ken Hampian, who addressed the issue at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

As Hampian noted in a letter to another miffed parent who’d been sent a notice, “In order for neighborhoods to work well, it is important to respect the interests of others.”

Those “others” may be older folks taking an evening constitutional, people walking pets or those in wheelchairs.

The problem is that the bases of a portable hoop — which can be filled with sand or water for stability—are up to a foot high and a couple feet across and can stretch the width of a sidewalk. There’s a tripping factor at play here.

OK, so they’re heavy. But a parent could move them to and from an adjacent lawn or driveway apron with the use of a hand-truck.

Baseline? Moving the hoops off public property when not in play isn’t one of aesthetics; it’s one of not using a city right of way for storage and, more importantly in a litigious society, a question of liability.

A stroller taking a hoop-caused tumble could go for a two-pointer in liability: suits against the city and the hoop owner. Although no suits have been filed as yet, City Attorney Jonathan Lowell told the council Tuesday night that hoops as a hazard have now been identified and can no longer be ignored.

In that light, courtesy and cooperation—rather than confiscation—seems like a slam-dunk policy.