| Author | Message | ||
     Joe Citizen Citizen Username: Joecitizen07079 Post Number: 27 Registered: 12-2003 |
Ok, not for nothing but what bright star decided that it would be a good idea to take Federal Park Improvement Grant Money and use it to make improvements to our community center? Do the powers that be not realize that by using this money to make improvements to the community center it now becomes a Federally Funded Park open to any and all who wish to use it? This means that it's open to any residant of the United States not just our little suburban community. | ||
| Ace789nj Citizen Username: Ace789nj Post Number: 38 Registered: 2-2005 |
It already was | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 1260 Registered: 1-2004  |
Joe- Hate to tell you most of those using the basketball courts weren't from South Orange to begin with. Most of the kids I know that like to plat basketball play at the Y or somewhere else. | ||
| cmontyburns Citizen Username: Cmontyburns Post Number: 884 Registered: 12-2003  |
Uhhh.... It is called Baird Community Center, not Baird Members-Only Country Club. Who exactly are you trying to keep out? | ||
| CageyD Citizen Username: Cageyd Post Number: 307 Registered: 6-2003 |
I live between the Baird and Orange and all summer long - starting already in fact - we hear loud and foul mouthed kids bouncing basket balls on the street coming from Orange and heading towards the Baird and back again. Their loud nightly antics wake me and my kids up, they litter on the ground, , throw rocks at and break gas lamps - we really feel under assault sometimes. I've called the police but there is only so much they can do unless they park their cars there every night. I desperately hope the Baird made provisions to fence in the courts and lock them at night. It just might stop the 2am cries of "hey you m*ther F*cker cut that sh*t out" that I hear outside my bedroom window | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 7192 Registered: 1-2003  |
Do you believe that their bad behavior is evidence that they don't live in town? Not sure if that's what you're saying. | ||
| Dave Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 6537 Registered: 4-1997  |
What street is this on? We live adjacent to the park and never hear anything like that. I do hear some older men cursing up a storm on the platform tennis courts late some nights though. They look like CPAs. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 7194 Registered: 1-2003 |
thread drift... My father used to play squash at a club that forbade cursing. So my father cursed his own bad moves by yelling out his own name, "Harry!" It caught on, and whenever anyone got frustrated, he would yell, "Harry!" | ||
| CageyD Citizen Username: Cageyd Post Number: 311 Registered: 6-2003 |
They are teenagers and I have watched them walk down my street into Orange at all hours of the night cursing and yelling all the way. So, it is pretty clear that they do not live in town. I guess it doesn't matter where they live, the issue is that the previous policy or lack there of that allowed people to play on the courts until late in the evening is what causes problems. I don't care who plays on the court - locals or not - but I want it to stop at about 9:00 at night. I dont' think that is asking too much. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 7214 Registered: 1-2003 |
That sounds like a totally reasonable viewpoint. | ||
| Soda Supporter Username: Soda Post Number: 3330 Registered: 5-2001  |
CageyD: Basketball played in the cooler evening hours, keeps lots of kids (some of whom might otherwise be getting into trouble) "off the streets", and I happen to think that if the courts at Baird were locked up at 9PM (Sorry, TomR), those same kids might be doing whatever idle mischief came to mind. Is it your reasoning that the courts present an "attractive nuisance"? If so, it's certainly not a new one. Are you saying that the rude noise on your street was nonexistent in previous years? I doubt it, but even if so, you're complaint sounds a lot like that of residents neighboring CHS. -s. BTW: Have you got any other suggestions? | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 1272 Registered: 1-2004 |
Soda- While I agree with what you said about keeping the kids off the street, it is not the job of the South Orange tax payers to keep the kids from Orange occupied. I've heard many parents say their children can't use the courts because the bigger kids from Orange are on them. I remember when I was young the Comunity Center had teen nights Fri and Sat for the residents. There were pool tables, ping pong, etc. Not anymore. It's a shame. I hope the courts are enclosed and accessable to residents only. Maybe they can put in some sort of key card gate. All the town would need to do is add some sort of stripe to our 'pool badges.' | ||
| snshirsch Citizen Username: Snshirsch Post Number: 363 Registered: 1-2003 |
I feel similar to the Aunt, I've gone to the courts on several occassions to find them jammed packed with kids much older. This would not be such a big deal it didn't seem as though the town had removed all the other basketball courts at the small local parks. Why is that? | ||
| Joe Citizen Citizen Username: Joecitizen07079 Post Number: 28 Registered: 12-2003 |
I have to say I am in agreement with The Aunt as well. I feel that the Basket Ball Courts, Tennis Courts, Basseball & Softball fields & the Pool should be earmarked for residents only. I too like the Aunt remember a time when South Orange offered a teen night at the Community Center, and am saddened that things like this have been taken away from our younger community. Of course if your wondering what happened to the gameroom at the community center it was replaced with our towns' retarded attempt at a public art gallery ,we need that as much as we need another Chinese Takeout or Pizza Place, (but thats a subject for a whole other thred). | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 1279 Registered: 1-2004 |
It's frustrating when one of the things we pay taxes for is the ability to use things such as the pool, tennis courts, basketball courts etc, but are shut out by non residents. More then once, I've taken my nephews to the Baird Center to shot some baskets. More then once, they were unable to because the 'kids' that were there refused to turn over the courts when their game was finished. They also refused to let my nephews plat with them when my nephews asked. They would tell us we can't tell them what to do and if they want to f-ing play on the courts they were going to play as long as they f-ing wanted I know for a fact some of these 'kids' don't live in South Orange because we've watched them walk back into Orange and into their houses. Some of them live down near Our Lady of the Valley Church and are known to the children of my mother's friends. We finally gave up. We now take the kids to Hoop Heaven or the Madison Y or the basketball courts in East Hanover, were we pay an out of town membership to use the recreation facilities . | ||
| Dave Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 6560 Registered: 4-1997 |
If federal dollars are used in a project it has to be open to the public. A lot of the kids who play there live in the apartments on Vose Ave. | ||
| Just The Aunt Supporter Username: Auntof13 Post Number: 1281 Registered: 1-2004 |
Exactly Dave and those apartments are NOT in South Orange!!!! Who's bright idea was it to use federal money to fix the courts? Maybe, if we're lucky the money was only used for the walls, and not the actual courts. Now that I think of it, does this mean out of towns kids can now go to our summer basketball camp? Luckily Hoop Heaven has a great program and several times a week the kids can go play. They also belong to a team there. We have a hoop in our yard, but they say it isn't the same. It's also near where I park my car, so it tends to get hit with the ball a lot!  | ||
| Hoops Citizen Username: Hoops Post Number: 164 Registered: 10-2004 |
JTA - There is a very definite basketball court etiquette that is followed universally in all courts. When someone has the court it remains theirs until they are beaten or they quit. I would say that you broke that etiquette and that is why you received such a bad response. I dont excuse the bad language but what you tried to do was the same as a hostile takeover. It just does not work that way. As far as residents only - I am totally against that. The courts would stay empty year round - which I suppose is what you want. Basketball is a game where people from different communities come together. It is important for it to remain that way. How old are your nephews and why don't you go to the YMCA at South Mountain for basketball? There are good programs there for youth who are learning the game. Hopefully they are going to do the right thing with the new and improved basketball facility and have enough courts available so there is a place where your nephews can shoot around while at the same time accomodating the people who want to play the game. | ||
| Dave Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 6562 Registered: 4-1997 |
The apartments I refer to are between Mead St. and SO Ave. | ||
| cmontyburns Citizen Username: Cmontyburns Post Number: 888 Registered: 12-2003 |
So all you xenophobes never set foot in a park outside South Orange? Never venture in the reservation beyond the borders of South Orange? Never used a restroom in a public building in Millburn? If you have done any of those things, I hope you reimbursed the poor taxpayers who had to support your freeloading butts. The assertion that these courts are primarily used by out-of-towners is ridiculous (and I speak from first-hand experience, not armchair guessing). I know there are plenty of people around here who want to set up a wall around town and check folks to make sure they have granite countertops in their kitchens before they are allowed admittance. But that ain't what "community" is all about. It's a community center. Rather than sit here and wring your hands, go over to the courts and get in on a pick-up game. It's not hard at all. |
