Trending
NILES -- A change in the way some city residents play basketball may be in the works.
The Niles Safety Committee debated Wednesday banning portable basketball hoops from streetside areas such as the devil's strip -- the area between the sidewalk and the street -- because of safety and aesthetic concerns.
The basketball hoops generally are used by children who play games in the street.
"They are putting (basketball hoops) right out at the curb, at the devil's strip," Third Ward Councilman James Sheely said. "And it is starting to be a hazard. It could be a possible safety issue" for children, he said.
"It is a safety issue, first and foremost, with kids playing in the street," Niles Mayor Steven Mientkiewicz, "and it is an aesthetic issue."
Some hoops are broken, some have torn nets and some are "totally on the street," he added. Sometimes, Mientkiewicz said, portable hoops block the sidewalks.
Often these hoops are abandoned once they are too damaged to use, and this is a problem that "has only gotten worse," Mientkiewicz said.
Currently, there is no ordinance dealing with basketball hoops, according to Sheely.
Some members of the council pushed back on the idea of limiting children's ability to play in the street.
First Ward Councilman Doug Sollitto objected to the idea of policing children playing games in the street as children have done for generations.
"We all grew up on the street playing tag football and kickball and everything else," Sollitto said. He wondered how the city would police children playing in the street and said that denying children the right to play outside might lead them to get into trouble.
The issue will be revisited for further discussion at a later date.
Council also discussed the problem of abandoned shopping carts in the city.
Despite signage placed in parking lots by stores, individuals are taking shopping carts off store property and abandoning them, according to Sollitto.
This is expensive for the stores as carts can cost as much as $300 apiece, and problematic for property owners who must deal with them, according to Sollitto. Abandoning a shopping cart can result in a $250 fine and the possibility of jail time.
According to Niles city ordinances, stores have 30 days to retrieve their stolen carts or they run the risk of forfeiting them, Law Director Philip Zuzolo said.
Some on the Council asked questions about what police officers should do if they see somebody on the street with a cart, but no resolution was reached.
IN OTHER NEWS
During the Niles City Council meeting, council members passed rules that will limit the warning homeowners receive for uncut grass to once a year.
Previously, homeowners who did not cut their grass could receive multiple notices that they violated Niles Codified Ordinances, Sollitto said.
Council authorized fund allocation totaling $211,800 for services rendered to the city:
• Payment was authorized to Summit Supply for $3,900 for an emergency repair to the sanitary sewer at 52 Fairview Ave.
• Funds were appropriated to the Contracted Labor Fund for the waterline extension project at 2560 Stillwagon Road for $19,400.
• Payment was authorized to American Municipal Power, Inc. on behalf of the city to contract with a professional meter installer for electric meter survey services for $188,500.