Hoop Heartache - City Faces Criticism over Clark Field Basketball Decision

The Parks & Rec Commission were urged last night to restore basketball hoops that were quietly removed from the west side of Clark Field — a move that caught the neighborhood off guard and generated a 450-signature petition in less than a week.

The hoops were taken down after a resident complaint about the deteriorating asphalt surface triggered a risk assessment by the city's acting risk program manager, Boyd Horan. His presentation laid out a thorough — and sobering — legal analysis.

The three small courts along the service road at Clark Field were never engineered as recreational courts, Horan explained. They have less than three feet of buffer between the playing surface and a retaining wall on one side and a baseball field fence on the other — well below the recommended minimum. Under California Government Code Section 835, the city could face liability if someone were injured by a condition it knew about and failed to address.

"If you were pushed into the retaining wall and we know that the retaining wall is there and we don't have a very large buffer zone, the answer then is that it's a big deal," Horan said. He noted the city's recent experience with a high-severity pickleball claim involving hard surfaces too close to play areas, which resulted in a settlement.

But commissioner after commissioner made clear they weren't willing to let risk elimination override community need.

"Let's find a way to say yes to the kids," said Vice Chair Traci Horowitz.

Commissioner Elka Worner echoed that view, saying "Kids go from school and then they do homework or they're in front of computers. This is a space for them to play, to let out some steam, exercise. I think we should do everything we can to bring the hoops back"

The most compelling testimony came from the community itself. Renee Siemak described the hoops as a lifeline for neighborhood children who have few alternatives — homes without backyards, streets too busy for portable hoops, school courts locked and gated. Her husband Jesse Obrand, an attorney, acknowledged the city's liability concerns but urged "a scalpel type approach" rather than outright removal.

And 10-year-old Elias Brafman LaMonica told the commission simply, "These hoops are very important, and I think there is a way to fix them without taking them out."

Dan Madden, president of HBYB (Hermosa Beach Youth Basketball), called in to note that the league's 1,000 kids have no public courts in the city with hoops below 10 feet — the Clark Field hoops, at eight and nine feet, were the only option for younger players.

The commission's consensus: restore some hoops as soon as possible, prioritize youth-appropriate heights, install warning signage and other risk mitigation measures, and bring an update back to the commission in March. Commissioner Tom Moroney suggested reducing the six hoops to three at varying heights. Commissioner Todd Tullis pointed out a 48-foot-wide area in the southwest corner of the site where at least one hoop could be placed with adequate buffer space.

The motion — a recommendation for staff to consider, not a directive — passed unanimously. Maybe those hoop dreams are still alive.