[MassHistPres] basket ball hoops or other sports equipment in historic districts

[Dennis De Witt]

10 years ago we had one very divided neighborhood -- split between  
Libertarians and communitarians, in which the former twice defeated  
attempts by the latter, who controlled the neighborhood association  
and were a perhaps 60% majority (not enough by our standards), to  
create an LHD.  One of the opponents' rallying cries was that the LHD  
would regulate the placement of the iconic backboard and hoop over the  
iconic garage door.  Never mind that we have no guidelines regulating  
hoops and there probably weren't any in the neighborhood.  It was a  
successful ploy -- like saying we were pinko un-American -- and  
against apple pie.

If I ever saw a basket ball hoop attached to a garage, absent trim  
having been chopped thru to put it up, I would quickly avert my eyes.   
In truth, I'd be surprised if I could presently find one attached to a  
house in any of our five LHDs

Dennis De Witt
Brookline


On Jun 5, 2009, at 6:23 PM, JDianeOl at aol.com wrote:

> I'm with Chris Skelly on this one...
> Unless I'm missing something, I don't see what the problem would be  
> with a basketball hoop, especially in the state where the game was  
> invented.  If there is more to this than just the aesthetics, I hope  
> that somebody will enlighten me.  Otherwise, even as a very  
> historically sympathetic homeowner who wishes their town had an LDC,  
> if my local historic commission told me or one of my neighbors that  
> a basketball hoop was in violation of the local regs, I think I'd  
> find it pretty unreasonable.
>
> What are your reasons for being wary of this?
>
> Diane Oliver-Jensen, rla
> West Brookfield
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Skelly <skelly-mhc at comcast.net>
> To: Masshistpres <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
> Sent: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 11:46 am
> Subject: [MassHistPres] Fwd: basket ball hoops or other sports  
> equipment in historic districts
>
>> I'm having a hard time understanding what the concern would be with  
>> a basketball hoop located in your local historic district.  Can you  
>> elaborate on the specifics here. Chris
>>
>> Chris Skelly
>> Director of Local Government Programs
>> Massachusetts Historical Commission
>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us
>>
>> On Jun 4, 2009, at 9:05 AM, "michaelamoran1" <michaelamoran1 at earthlink.net 
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> Acton Historic District Commission has an application for a  
>>> permanent basket ball hoop in a prominent location in our Acton  
>>> Center district. Might any other historic district commissions  
>>> have come across this kind of request? If so, what measures were  
>>> taken in response?
>>>
>>> Michaela Moran,
>>> Vice-Chairperson
>>> Acton Historic District Commission
>>>
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