By nightfall the Shoesmith Park Little Leaguers and their parents have gone home, and the tree-lined corner at 49th and Dorchester is calm–except for the basketball courts. There a group of a dozen or so young men has arrived, and a loud full-court game is under way.
“This has gone on for far too long; something’s got to be done,” says Virginia Walker, president of the Shoesmith Park Advisory Council. “If the Park District can’t control these games, the hoops should come down.”
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If it weren’t for the basketball dispute, Shoesmith would be a model park. Its four baseball diamonds, two tennis courts, basketball courts, and play lot are well maintained, and it’s one of the few integrated parks outside the north lakefront.
Ironically, it was because of the baseball league that the basketball controversy first emerged. “There’s a belligerency on the part of some basketball players toward the baseball league,” says Mark Kishlansky, who coaches in the league. “We have four divisions, ranging from age 6 to 15. Most of the basketball players are in their teens or early 20s. They see this well-organized league–with the uniforms, the adult coaches, the sponsors–and they get hostile because they feel excluded.”
One of the baseball coaches, also a police officer, interceded, flashing his badge and escorting the young men off the diamond. But they didn’t leave the park. Instead, they stood to the side, taunting and threatening the umpire.
Typically the rims are taken down in the winter and put back up in the spring. But not the spring before last. “Because of the complaints, there were a few months last year when the Park District didn’t put up the basketball rims,” says Cottone. “And there were no disturbances.” There was, however, a large contingent of disappointed basketball players, who bombarded Park District officials with complaints.
Other residents say if people don’t like living next to the park they shouldn’t have moved in next to it. “I can see that point,” says Booker. “It’s understandable to want an idyllic environment, but how realistic is it? This isn’t Kenilworth–this is Hyde Park. We live in a city; there’s noise in a city; there are basketball players in a city. On the other hand, just because we live in a city, should we be exposed to boom boxes at two in the morning?”
