Forgotten Costa Mesa basketball court has residents wondering

In Costa Mesa’s Tanager Park, on a decaying basketball court, the best shooters toss nothing but air balls every time.

That’s because the court is missing both hoops. And the backboards. And the poles.

In the early 1990s, frustrated residents went full-court press on City Hall to get something done about Tanager, a 7.4-acre park in Costa Mesa’s Upper Birds neighborhood, near Mesa Verde. They said the park’s two courts were rowdy, full of “out-of-towners” from Santa Ana and elsewhere. Using car headlights, they stayed there late, dunking at 3 a.m. and possibly doing drugs, residents claimed.

In response, city officials removed all four hoops, making the courts useless — for basketball, at least.

Several months later, one court got a reprieve. One hoop was restored, then eventually another. Basketball games returned.

The second court, however, never got its second chance.

More than two decades later, its hoops have never been reinstalled, and in an enviable park otherwise in prime condition, that emptiness sticks out. Cracks ripple through center court and blotches mark the surface that, after years in the sun, could use resurfacing.

Tanager users call the space little more than a “concrete slab” occasionally used for activities other than basketball, like roller hockey or tricycle rides.

But things could be changing for the court.

Online discussion among a popular Costa Mesa Facebook group, the updating of a citywide parks plan and the involvement of two city commissioners may be leading toward new life for the underutilized section of Tanager.

*

A ‘significant issue’

“Why is a basketball court just sitting there?”

The question kept getting asked to Colin McCarthy, a planning commissioner who lives in the Upper Birds. He and his family use and pass by Tanager nearly every day.

“It’s just sort of this uncompleted sentence in the park,” McCarthy said in an interview. “It seems sort of silly to have a basketball court without hoops.”

On April 30, McCarthy posted a picture of the empty court on Costa Mesa Public Square, a Facebook group with more than 1,700 members. He asked for suggestions.

Responses flooded in his inbox and online: lawn bowling, indoor soccer, a garden, a sitting area, pickleball, paddle tennis, bocce ball.

“Is this an Italian seniors community?” one man joked on Costa Mesa Public Square, in response to the bocce ball idea.

“I’m surprised at the response on this issue,” McCarthy said. “I didn’t realize it was something that people have had on their minds for 20 years.”

Others suggested actually bringing back the hoops. Years ago, they were only 8 feet tall — low enough for dunking.

Those short hoops, however, were the root of the problem in the 1990s, said Richard Mehren, a former parks commissioner and longtime Costa Mesa resident. People packed Tanager to use them, he said.

“It got to the point where people were playing late at night and early in the morning,” Mehren said. “All that sort of stuff was very, very annoying. They were doing impromptu tournaments there. The neighbors were very adamant about it, particularly those who live close to the park.”

In October 1993, parks commissioners, including Mehren, heard testimony from residents, many from the Upper Birds. Folks wanted the hoops out.

According to the meeting minutes, one commissioner suggested conducting weekend surveys — even checking license plates — to determine if Tanager users were indeed Costa Mesa residents. A city staff member replied that doing so might not be legal.

The commissioners, including Mehren, ended up voting to remove all four hoops and then conduct a hearing six months later to put one hoop back.

That December, however, basketball enthusiasts complained to the City Council about the lack of courts in Tanager, according to the Los Angeles Times. The council told the commissioners to reconsider the matter.

One neighbor told The Times she was glad the hoops came down. Before, the players, who “looked like gang members,” used foul language and scared her two children. “Now tons of mothers go there with their kids,” she concluded.

In January 1994, parks commissioners were presented with one petition with 430 resident signatures to keep the courts out forever. Another petition, organized by an Estancia High School student, had 535 signatures from students, faculty and parents who wanted the courts to be usable again, The Times reported.

After nearly three hours of heated arguments, commissioners sided with the neighbors: no return of basketball.

By May, a compromise was reached: one hoop would go back in. The commissioners also approved adding signs forbidding excessive noise, profanity, alcohol and drugs, littering or urination, The Times reported.

“One basket is better than nothing, so thanks,” Mike Stapleton, 13, told the commission.

The court’s second hoop was eventually reinstalled, though when it happened is not clear.

*

What’s next

Whatever happens to Tanager Park’s empty court, it’s probably going to originate from the same body that removed the hoops years ago, city officials say.

“It would be good to start with direction from the Parks and Recreation Commission and take that to the City Council for consideration,” said Public Services Director Ernesto Munoz.

He noted that improving Tanager’s court isn’t immediately on City Hall’s radar. It hasn’t received any staff analysis, and a plan for the empty court is not on next year’s list of capital improvement projects.

“We need to figure out what the costs of improvements are and take them to the City Council to appropriate funding,” Munoz said.

But Tanager, and all other parks, will receive significant analysis this year as the city works to update its parks and recreation master plan, Munoz said. The plan’s analysis and suggestions will probably be made public by early 2016, he added.

Neighbors say there’s still some tension, a generational shift, around Tanager. The older generation who remembers the problems of the 1990s doesn’t want the hoops to return. The park, they contend, is fine as is.

Then there’s the younger crowd, new families to the neighborhood with small children and teenagers who might enjoy more basketball opportunities, or something better for that empty space.

Mandy Collister lives across from Tanager Park, on Hummingbird Drive. She hasn’t been there long, but says activities in Tanager aren’t disruptive for her family.

On a recent afternoon, she sat on a shaded bench in the park. Behind her, three men in their 20s played basketball on the restored court. Residents walked their dogs. Moms quietly chatted as their toddlers scurried about in the tot lot. A young dad pushed his infant daughter on the swing set.

Looking at the empty court, Collister commented that doing “something little there would be great.” Maybe racquetball?

Parks Commissioner Byron de Arakal has Tanager’s “concrete slab” on his radar. The park is in his district, which makes him the City Hall point man for comments about it. Like McCarthy, he’s been reaching out to neighbors to see what their thoughts are.

“Clearly, there is a lot of input in the debate that the [court] should have hoops again,” de Arakal said. “Whatever happens in that park, maybe we do put hoops back in. But it will be with the input and buy-in from the neighborhood.”