Saw this on facebook
While having prople playing basketball in the street is dangerous I can not see the logic in the cops actions. Also if Deldot send a letter and you and your rep send a responce and they fail respond how is what they did legal. I wonder who the non-uniformed cop is.
I can’t see the video fro work, so I’ll answer blind.
New Castle County code prohibits the placing of portable basketball hoops in the roadway. As long as the base is not in the street there should be no issue, however if the base is in the roadway it violates their “clear escape path” ordinace and can be removed. This is the same ordinace that prevents new neoghborhod sigens from being placed in the median (like my neighborhood) or within 20 feet of the curb. Logic is if someone needs to veer off the road to avoid killing your kid they should have to worry about slamming in to a concrete sign or steel pole to do so.
Man I really hope that wasn’t off topic.
The states fight on this was that the poles were in the ground past the sidewalk… Technically the county/state owns the property from your sidewalk up to the street I believe… They had some neighbors complain about the hoops since they like their kids nice and fat and on the video game diet. I do understand the technicalities of this issue on the states legal side but then again I thought we were trying to promote kids to go out and be physical. I know this is something promoted in the schools as a big issue. If the poles were all beat up then yes it makes your development look kind of not so good but they were taking poles out that looked good no rust no ripped nets. There is always 2 sides or more to a story and many angles that have to be looked at to be fair. This was in no way fair. You can not place the net on your grass and a lot of parents do not want to move their cars out of the driveway every time their kid wants to play basketball. I do have a bit to say about this but since we are on a friendly forum those comments will be left out.
It is a shame to see how many people are going with this motion to remove the nets. I guess they forgot what its like to be a kid and to be able to do these things. Now there is less places locally for the kids to just hang out and do things. Some of you may say they have a park but think about the age groups and what if everytime they want to go to the park there is already kids there playing and no room for your kid to join.
The freedoms in America really are depleting like an endangered species. Well enough of this rant I will leave it at that.
You can’t send your kid to the park because you worry about some nut job going after your kid. If they do go to the park the nets and poles have been removed (alond with the evergreen trees, trash cans, picnic tables) so drug users/dealers don’t hang out.
I believe the area of the side walk and the curb is your property but you yeild right of way to the public to use. Sort of like the sidewalk is public property thats on your property and you maintain it. If someone gets hurt in that area due to not removing snow/upkeep than they sue the homeowner since its there property.
The bases were on the grass but the board overhung into the street. I know its not approved but the issue for me is that they removed a select 8 due to one persons complaint.
Where is the due process? “Go inside or your under arrest” If I sent a letter to the state and they responded with a disagreement I would be expected to either challange it in court or cease and desist.
The County sent a letter you and the area represenative challange the validity and they come and take the item when they expect you not to be home. Should the homeowner been given the option to move the offending item? I bet there are 10000 basketball pole and nets that overhang into the street in NCC alone. If 1 is illegal all should be. Get the funds to remove them all before you target these 8. (They would not be able to fund the project)
What gets me most is the the un-uniformed “officers” attitude. This is not yet a police state. At worst the person is failing to follow the directions of the officer (I never saw the badge in the video) I would probably have gotten arrested so i could challange the process that was followed and what laws were possibly broken…
The 2 State troppers seem slightly ammused to be there on the call. Both were probably thinking that they have one at there house the same way. At my brother in laws house he lives accross the street form a state trooper who has a basketball ct in the culdesac
When you consider the state’s position, they had to be moved. If the state damaged the pole during snow removal- the homeowners would have a fit. If some kid was hit by a car because the state allowed the poles, they would be sued for millions. As soon as the first disgruntled neighbor brought it to the state’s attention, they were obligated to remedy it. Not doing so would leave the state open for lawsuits. Did it seem a bit shady? Yes. Is it understandable? I think so.
I think the police completely over reacted on this issue. Of all of the serious problems within this state, I.E. violent crime; the state sends an non-uniformed police woman to barrate a handicapped man over his child’s basketball net. If I was placed into that situation I probably would have went to jail.
The problem with the basketball nets is that there is a State Law that requires a specific amount of clear area off the edge of a traveled way based on the speed of the road. I am not real sure of what the distances are in the case of a subdivision, but I believe the area adjacent to the road on a 25mph street is something like 10ft. It doesn’t matter who owns that area, there isn’t supposed to be an obstruction of any kind in that “Clear Zone” area that is not break away.
In this particular case, basketball poles that are permanently in the ground are not considered breakaway, hence they need to be set back out of the “clear zone” or they become a danger.
In my opinion, there may have been a better way to go about it, but these homeowners were warned at least twice that they would be removed, because they were illegally placed. What I think is hilarious is the number of non-permanent basketball nets that were also removed. The back of that one dump truck had at least 1 or 2 that had the big black plastic base… why wouldn’t the parents just move them out of the way when their kids were done playing basketball IN THE STREET.
The other thing is, this is the law. Just because the homeowners were not aware of the law doesn’t mean they aren’t held to it. They were informed that the basketball poles were not in compliance, and they chose to get their legislator involved so that they could be exempt from the law. The state doesn’t have to respond, in my opinion. The law is the law, and it took a majority of the legislators to pass the law.
Lastly, what parent would want their kid playing basketball in the street. Aren’t most of those driveways paved?
Regardless, in the end, the State probably could have done things differently, but they certainly could not ignore the complaint.
The biggest issue I had with the whole thing is the way they were removed the tops could of been easily stablized to prevent the tops from slaming into the ground, and then the blantent lie of " you can keep it, we can put it in your yard".
Just because there is a law on the books doesn’t mean it’s correct or right. The origin of the problem is with our current legal system and it’s enforcement; tort reform is necessary to curtail the litigious nature of our society. Remember segregation was a law for many years in this country. I do not agree with any aspect of this law.The speed limit within a neighborhood is 15 miles per hour. Kids will be kids; it is not in our society’s interest to inhibit constructive recreation.
I head up my neighborhood’s civic association.
You’d be amazed at the number of phone calls I get every spring (they will start tonight) about the kids playing basketball in the street out front. It’s only ever people without kids, that don’t want to listen to the thump-thump-thump of the basketball being dribbled, or just don’t like the kids congregating near their homes.
No matter how often I try to remind them that if the kids are playing basketball then they aren’t breaking in to their homes - they just don’t get it. They’d rather the kids stay in house, get bored, and find mischielf than deal with some kids getting some excerize out front.
Sometimes society needs a reality check.
they didnt have those portable hoops poles when i was a kid, but we were always playing baseball, or field hockey in the street. and flying kites over the whole neighborhood. every house had a kite or two wrapped around the old TV antenna on the roof. and in winter sledding down the hill on the road. lots of fun dodging cars.