NIMBYism Wins at Sherwin Williams Park Site
"Destination Park" Shown to be Pejorative in Park Avenue Neighborhood
Full Basketball Court Rejected by Planning Commission: Outsiders to be Discouraged
Reversing an earlier decision, Emeryville's Planning Commission voted NO Thursday night to a controversial basketball court for the planned park at the Sherwin Williams apartment project site in the Park Avenue neighborhood. The reversal from their decision in November praising a full basketball court came after Lennar Development Corporation and the City Hall staff Thursday made a strongly one sided presentation stating a half court is "more usable" and that basketball players would rather use a half court than a real full court. Notably absent from the presentation to the Commission this time was the previous verbal insistence to make sure the new park not be made a "destination park" with the specter of outsiders coming into the neighborhood even as the forces aligned against the full court still pursued that goal.
Barring a City Council appeal, due within 15 days, the forces that called on Emeryville's decision makers to discourage outsiders from coming to the new park, notably Park Avenue Residents Committee (PARC) and Lennar, won the fight over for whom the City of Emeryville should be building parks with Thursday's final Planning Commission vote. Despite their decidedly negative view on building a basketball court for the Sherwin Williams park, the developer voiced agreement with PARC that basketball is not necessarily a bad thing and a court might someday be built as long as it's in some other part of town.
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| Planning Commissioner Steven Keller Changed his vote from YES to NO. He's had a change of heart about basketball. Before he thought it would be good at Emeryville's newest park. Now he says it brings a rough crowd. |
Still, basketball players were left stunned Thursday night after learning the Lennar spokesman told the Commissioners a half court is better because it is "more optional" for the new park, "more flexible" and inexplicably, "A half court will get more usage." The Planning Commissioners, three of whom last meeting said a full court was a great idea, didn't question these new findings nor did the developer offer any evidence to support the claims. Further, it was claimed by Lennar that a full court would "change the feel of the space", presumably for the worse and that "a half court looks better." Again, no evidence to support those claims were forthcoming nor did Lennar qualify the dubious statement that people could use a half basketball court for stretching exercises but on a full court they couldn't.
Commissioner Steven Keller who had at the November Planning Commission study session on the park, joined the majority of his colleagues and asked the staff to come back in December and present a park with a full basketball court for them to vote on, was nonetheless pleased this time with the presentation that roundly rejected that ask by the Commissioners. Vaguely referencing the earlier PARC and Lennar concerns about outsiders coming to play basketball, and reversing previous claims of the benefits of basketball, Mr Keller this time moved to limit games being played, saying "people get rowdy" playing basketball.
With this victory keeping basketball outsiders out of the Sherwin Williams park, PARC adds to its accomplishments and builds its clout with City Hall. The organization which calls itself a citizen's activist group reflects its xenophobic vision for this park, being an exclusive group closed to outsiders despite the self applied epithet 'community activist group'. When PARC announced its formation last year, they claimed to speak for the community as they formulated what they called a Sherwin Williams Community Benefits Agreement with Lennar but they turned the idea of a CBA on its head. The discriminative PARC excluded other community members and community activist groups such as Resident for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), those exclusionary aspirations being the antithesis of the democratic essence of a real CBA. The Tattler has reported on the likelihood that a better, more resident friendly development would have come to pass if an actual CBA were to have been agreed to but City Hall chose to accept the exclusive PARC agreement (and accept PARC's crowning of their agreement as a CBA). It is likely a real CBA would have net a real basketball court for the park as well as other amenities but this is Emeryville and that's the path not taken with the Sherwin Williams project.
Video of the meeting can be viewed HERE.
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Well, since half a court is better, Emeryville must upgrade other recreational facilities in the same manner. I hope PARC can get behind my initiative to remove left field, third base and half the pitcher's mound from the baseball field---y'know, to make it more "usable" and "flexible." We also demand that half of the municipal pool gets filled in, and get rid of half of that bocce court. Real baseball and bocce players and swimmers prefer half a field and half a pool anyway.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we could fill half of City Hall with concrete. Just peel back the roof and pump it right in. Citizens could do stretching exercises on top of the cured concrete definably making City Hall more usable than it currently is.
DeleteIf this reporting is accurate, PARC is not only exclusionary but racist in its underlying motives. There may not be a physical wall ala Trump, but a wall nonetheless, The worst thing PARC can do is exclude people rather than open discussions with those you fear our of stereotyping. I have worked with ex-drug addicts, ex-felons and single moms who can't afford childcare to work -- in West Oakland and there's not one of them that I've brought into my home in Emeryville who didn't respect what we have here in this city. PARC folks: you need to get out and expand your circle of friends. If you had established ground rules for how a full court basketball court is to be used and developed scheduled leagues and activities, you would have champions from those you fear to help take care of the park. All you did was create hostility and potential vandalism. Happy Holidays.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Based on your opening, I put in a link to the video at the bottom of the story so you may check for yourself.
DeleteI agree that a full basketball court is sorely needed for Emeryville residents, including future residents at Sherwin Williams. Running up and down the court is part of the game! With such a large project, it is unconscionable not to build a real basketball court. Shame on the planning commission. I hope the city council overturns this.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how this is seen as veiled racism if the people that live in the area are making their recommendations about what they want. They didn't remove the courts simply reduced the overall size. We already have multiple courts available at several parks in the immediate Emeryville area. There are also a lot of other things they could put in this space, a fenced in dog area (which I guess many residents of Sherwin will have), bbq's, fountains, benches, gardens and a long list of other things. Seems like they're being inclusive to accommodate a wider range of people and activities.
ReplyDeleteIn the Jim Crow south, people that lived in the area would frequently make recommendations that there be separate drinking fountains for white people and colored people. That's what the majority wanted.
DeleteWhats your point? I haven't read anything to say that there is a separate anything. You're doing a great job trolling and adding nothing useful to the discussion.
DeleteIf full courts are cause for crime or a negative aspect to an area, why would the residents who live there support this? Its no different to residents not being happy about a homeless encampment on their doorstep where there will be inevitable crime and issues. The park is public and anyone can enjoy it and still play 3 on 3. Seems like a good compromise which is valuable.
You said racism is cancelled if (a majority of) people that live in an area are making recommendations about what they want. What if a majority of people want separate water fountains? Then no racism?
DeleteWho said full basketball courts "are cause for crime or a negative aspect to any area"? What's your point?
If racist half court basketball in Emeryville wasn't bad enough...
ReplyDeleteIt may come as a surprise, but Ice Cube actually had the audacity to launch a racist 3-on-3 half-court basketball league last summer. If that doesn't smack of Jim Crow, I don't know what does.
Known white supremacists Allen Iverson, Charles Oakley, Rashard Lewis, Jermaine O'Neal, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Julius Irving, and Clyde Drexler headed up this xenophobic sham with the explicit goal of excluding people of color. Shamefully, the rules explicitly prohibit play on anything but a clearly racist "FIBA-sanctioned half-court" no different than the one the PARC racists are trying to install.
Clearly we haven't learned our lesson from those Klan infested, whites-only, neo-Nazi hell holes at Doyle Hollis and Temescal Creek Parks. The half courts there ooze systemic racism. With the usual privileged nod to a "color blind" society, Eurocentric 3-on-3 is on full display. The oppression borne daily by the children who play basketball there is unthinkable. The fact that the city had the nerve to replace the broken rim at Doyle Hollis last year made me sick. Perpetuating this half-court oppression is unconscionable.
I know it's hard to believe, but this gets worse.
In 2020, an organization whose affiliations with far-right white nationalists are well known and whose commitment to colonialism and parading militarism spans the globe, plans to host a half-court 3-on-3 basketball competition as part of its so-called Tokyo Summer Olympics. Needless to say, it's highly unlikely any people of color will be welcome.
And what other group other than the IOC do you know that carries torches through cities?
Exactly.
2:31 AM? Graveyard shift I take it. You must work hard.
DeleteSo it's All Lives Matter with you, right?
I enjoyed the anonymous comment dec. 19 at 10:25, especially altering the baseball field. but brian's comment about city hall's roof is good too. any other suggestions?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am sick and tired of these bigoted City plans, Community plans and I'm sick of their authors. No basketball? Clearly this community wants to keep undesirables out. Who are your undesirables? We have idiots on the school board within the emery Unified School District who have no children in any school in California! And who the hell voted Vargas into that position as president Emery Unified School District is racist and corrupt! Superintendent Rubio will not hire staff unless he can successfully co-opted them or silence them. And where are all of our black and brown parents at these meetings? Oh! I forgot! I know for a fact that mr. Rubio and his former principal, Lang have pitted black and Mexican parents against one another, specifically speaking of a Mexican parent who mr. Rubio and Miss Lang put up to serving a black parent at the school on school grounds with a summons.
ReplyDeleteSince we know that Emeryville black students in particular are suffering under this inadequate educational system and obviously teaching at ECCL and the school itself is one of the worst in the Bay Area when it comes to stores and teachers being able to impart information to students, why don't we decrease the pay that a superintendent gets, get rid of the one we have now along with this racist School Board and start fresh!? Now we need all of our parents involved. We've got enough of the kiss ass parents from the more affluent, i e white demographic, now we need the coming together of the parents of color within the Emeryville School District. Even among the parents of color we have those parents of color who would rather live close to there Masters where it's easier to kiss ass.
ReplyDeleteSo we have to separate ourselves from the lap dogs. We need to become more involved, a lot more involved in our children's education and not leave the important stuff to individuals who don't even have children. And the one or two that do don't allow their children to go to Emeryville Schools. I myself will continue to speak out regardless and in spite of my detractors. I shouldn't Telegraph this but I'm looking forward to the next board meeting. Will you roll out the red carpet for me Rubio? Will you have an officer there ready to cut my 3 minutes down to one with a pair of handcuffs? I wouldn't doubt it.
ReplyDeleteThis is for the asshole or assholes with their baseless opinions about me. My second job and it's schedule prevents me from dropping off and picking up my son as I have done so every single day for the Last 5 Years. It prevents me from getting to these meetings however I will make absolutely sure that I have the next board meeting date free. I really would love 4 parents who don't normally make it to these meetings 2 attend the next meeting. Please! It is disgustingly unbelievable to sit and listen to these ego maniacal lunatics make decisions that don't concern you, I, our children or their education.
ReplyDelete