Basketball hoops may return to Lynn parks

LYNN – Lynn youths may soon be able to shoot hoops again at Henry and Strawberry Avenue parks, according to Lynn Police.After the basketball hoops were taken down at Ames Playground on Strawberry Avenue roughly 6 weeks ago because of gang activity and a stabbing in March, Deputy Chief Kevin Coppinger said the department is diligently working with Part of the Solution, the youth council of the Communities that Care coalition, and the City Council to get them put back up.”We’re amenable to the idea, but we are taking it with caution,” he said. “However, if the basketball hoops go up and there is a problem, they will come back down again.”Henry Avenue Park in the Highlands lost its hoops several years ago due to similar problems, which Coppinger said have all but been resolved.”I got a call last week from (Ward 4) City Councilor Richard Colucci asking us to put the hoops back up at Henry Park, and I basically gave the green light,” he said. “But we just need to work with the City Council to make sure it’s the right idea first.”Coppinger said Ward 5 City Councilor Paula Mackin reportedly expressed concerns about reinstating the hoops at Strawberry Park since the problems that originally happened there are still fresh.”The basketball hoops were taken down before and then put back up about a year ago when everything was quiet and good again,” he said. “But after the stabbing in March and a few other problems that happened, they were taken down again. So it’s a matter of good faith to get them back up.”Calls placed to Mackin Wednesday were not immediately returned.As far as the comments made by Kamaya Ray, a member of Part of the Solution, regarding the need for youth to have an adequate amount of basketball parks in the city, Coppinger said she had a few good points.”I understand what she is saying about good kids getting punished for a few bad apples, but we have to figure out why the gangs are congregating at the parks,” he said. “If the hoops are taken down and they (gangs) go away, then we know what the magnet was to draw them in.”Ray previously said she and a group of roughly 25 teens involved in Part of the Solution wrote letters to City Councilors and Mayor Edward J. Clancy Jr. in an attempt to regain their beloved basketball hoops.Stressing the need for outdoor activities for Lynn youths to engage in, Ray said its imperative that the city reverse its move to take the hoops down so that teens have a safe place to play during the hot summer months.