最新杏吧原创

When Kobe Burse moved to 最新杏吧原创 from Michigan in 2021 and settled near Forest Park, he immediately noticed something about one of the region鈥檚 gems: There were no basketball courts.

鈥淚 was like, 鈥業s there no court around here?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲hy can鈥檛 this park be designed for it? It鈥檚 big enough.鈥�

Burse and other aspiring outdoor basketball players might soon be in luck. City and park officials have proposed adding basketball courts to Forest Park for the first time in its history. A recent series of open houses, including one attended by Burse, shared details about the proposed courts on the park鈥檚 northern edge.

The lack of basketball courts in the city鈥檚 premier park has for years raised questions that go far beyond recreation, green space and crowds 鈥� touching on matters of race, class and whom the park aims to serve.

For many residents, the presence of more than a dozen sports and activities in the park 鈥� and the absence of others, like basketball, that are especially popular in the Black community 鈥� has sent a clear message.

鈥淚t felt like it was, 鈥楰eep Black people out of the park,鈥欌�� said Brock Seals, a 最新杏吧原创 artist who hopes to paint a park-inspired mural on the new courts, if they come to fruition.

The sense of a racially motivated exclusion is shared by many others, including elected officials and academic experts.

Park and city officials are aware of that perception. They say the effort to add basketball courts is not a direct response to those sentiments but emerged instead from a groundswell of demand.

鈥淲e鈥檝e just heard more interest in recent years,鈥� said Dominik Jansky, spokesman for Forest Park Forever, a nonprofit that helps maintain the park.

But new courts are also part of a goal 鈥渢o make it a more welcoming, inclusive park,鈥� he added.

Bill Hannegan, who lives on Lindell Boulevard north of Forest Park, says residents鈥� concerns have nothing to do with race. He and others worry about courts drawing young and possibly rowdy groups.

鈥淚 know what I was like in high school,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou get a bunch of those people in one place 鈥� a bunch of Bill Hannegans at 17 in one place 鈥� look out.鈥�

鈥楢n issue of equity鈥�

First opened in 1876 鈥� before basketball had been invented 鈥� Forest Park is not only a beloved park in the 最新杏吧原创 region but consistently earns recognition as a top park in the nation. It even eclipses New York City鈥檚 Central Park in size.

Despite ample green space, the park packs a lot into its 1,300 acres, including free attractions and institutions. Recreationally, it caters to a long list of pursuits, with fields or specialized areas for softball, baseball, soccer, rugby, cricket, fishing, archery, ice skating, biking, boating, handball, pickleball, racquetball and tennis. There are also two golf courses.

From the 1960s to the 1980s, the park鈥檚 Steinberg Skating Rink offered roller skating, and was hailed by the city as one of its before that activity was discontinued.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 available and what鈥檚 accessible in the park is really an indicator of who鈥檚 welcome there,鈥� said Kelly Harris, a Washington University professor of occupational therapy and surgery and chair of the Forest Park Advisory Board, which provides citizen input. 鈥淭he absence of basketball in the park is an issue of equity in our city.鈥�

The push for basketball courts in Forest Park isn鈥檛 new. In 2016 and 2017, for example, the same change was sought by bills before the 最新杏吧原创 Board of Aldermen, but they failed to pass. Legislators behind the bills said one source of resistance came from opponents who wanted to defer to the park鈥檚 master plan, adopted in 1995. That document mentions basketball once, as a possible future amenity.

鈥淭he fear is that it would attract young Black males in large numbers,鈥� said former Alderman Antonio French, one of the sponsors.

Others have picked up the torch, including researchers at Washington University.

鈥淲e鈥檙e told Forest Park is among the best urban parks in the country ... and yet the No. 1 urban sport in the United States is not present,鈥� said John Early, a senior lecturer at Washington University who has helped research the topic and even driven a hoop into the park, mounted to the back of a minivan, to attract attention.

Early said that in surveys conducted in 2021 about the park鈥檚 lack of hoops, every Black person questioned 鈥渨as aware of their absence and understood their absence to be racially motivated.鈥�

City officials say they鈥檙e enthusiastic about the proposal to add courts.

鈥淔olks want basketball and we want basketball as well,鈥� said Greg Hayes, director of the city鈥檚 Department of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry. 鈥淲e want it to be a welcoming park, like all 110 of our parks.鈥�

The proposed courts would go just north of the park鈥檚 Dennis and Judith Jones Visitor and Education Center, near Lindell Boulevard. The layout of the courts 鈥斅燼nd whether to include both full-court and half-court configurations 鈥� is under discussion, park officials said. The target is to break ground on the publicly and privately funded project by late this year and be ready for play in 2024.

Meanwhile, proponents of hoops in the park seem to agree on one key detail: They want to be greeted by the swish of mesh nets, not the metallic sound of chain ones. And some have specified a desire to avoid hoops with double rims and their notoriously unforgiving bounces.

The history between basketball and race

最新杏吧原创鈥� basketball history is closely linked to race in the city, reaching even to the highest levels of the game. For example, basketball legend Bill Russell said that 鈥渙verwhelming鈥� racism in the city deterred him from joining the 最新杏吧原创 Hawks after the team drafted him in 1956. The Boston Celtics traded for him, where he went on to become an 11-time NBA champion.

At the street and park level, 最新杏吧原创鈥� modern-day basketball landscape reflects the city鈥檚 demographic divide. Courts are far more abundant in city parks on 最新杏吧原创鈥� predominantly Black north side, but scarce across much of the whiter and wealthier southern half of the city. Out of 最新杏吧原创鈥� 110 public parks, a city website lists only six courts at city parks south of Delmar Boulevard, and 21 courts at parks to the north. In 2019, identified only three courts in city parks that were outside of majority-Black areas.

Beyond Forest Park, the sport is also absent from prominent public spaces across south 最新杏吧原创, like Tower Grove Park and Lafayette Park, which had courts removed decades ago. In Lafayette Park, the removal of hoops in 1997 sparked accusations of a push to exclude Black basketball players, according to Post-Dispatch articles from the time.

Meanwhile, social and policing policy has long linked basketball and Black neighborhoods in 最新杏吧原创. In the 1990s, for example, 最新杏吧原创 used federal funding to launch 鈥渕idnight basketball鈥� leagues that took 鈥渁t-risk males off the street during peak hours for crime and gave them a positive recreational outlet,鈥� wrote then-Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr., in a 1995 Post-Dispatch opinion piece. Similar leagues appeared around the country, primarily aimed at Black youths.

Alderman Joe Vaccaro says a common fear cited about public hoops 鈥� that courts attract crime 鈥� is unfounded, based on his experiences in Tilles Park in south 最新杏吧原创, where a dramatically expanded court was put in a decade ago.

Vaccaro said the hoops in Tilles Park attract people of different races, genders and ages.

鈥淚t provides a nice activity that a lot of people enjoy,鈥� he said.

When skeptics of courts in Forest Park 鈥渟ee that, they鈥檒l probably say, 鈥榃e should鈥檝e did this a long time ago,鈥欌�� Vaccaro added.

Despite the limited access to public basketball courts in much of 最新杏吧原创, a rebound may be in motion.

Tower Grove Park intends to reinstall courts after its updated master plan in 2017 identified basketball as an attraction the public most wanted to add, right behind bathrooms. Another court is planned in Love Bank Park on Cherokee Street, founded by community members in 2015 on two vacant lots. Yet another resident-led effort recently brought hoops into Chouteau Park in The Grove. A 2021 Twitter post showing the new court鈥檚 progress prompted cheers online, and laments about how rare the moment felt.

鈥淚鈥檝e spotted a unicorn!鈥� one wrote. 鈥淎 new basketball court in a #StLouis City park!鈥�

Back in Forest Park, Seals said the arrival of hoops would be met with 鈥渁 sense of 鈥榓bout time.鈥欌��

And, he added, it would herald something new from city leaders: a different way of thinking.