Bronx Council Member Kevin C. Riley rallied with youth advocates and community leaders on April 23 to demand year-round access to indoor basketball courts, just hours before a key City Council Parks and Recreation Committee hearing on the issue.
Riley is the sponsor of the Indoor Hoops Act, which would set the city on a path to open more indoor basketball courts like those inside NYC public schools when bad weather makes using public outdoor basketball courts difficult or on weekends. Riley has 28 co-sponsors in support of the bill that is currently in committee.
Riley said that being able to access basketball courts rain or shine is important for many young people in the Bronx and the other boroughs who may not have someplace safe to go when outdoor games get canceled due to bad weather.
“Basketball and youth sports overall, are more than games in our neighborhoods,” Riley said. “They’re avenues for mentorship, discipline, academic support, and emotional wellness.”
The bill would create a partnership between the New York City Parks & Recreation Department and the Department of Education (DOE) and aims to keep school basketball courts open after school hours and on weekends, when courts are typically unused. Riley said that young people need alternatives when outdoor youth programs are rained out.
“We cannot allow our youth to be left without safe places to grow, play, and thrive—especially during inclement weather or after school hours,” he said.
But later on during the committee hearing, Parks Department representatives said that the agency does not support the Indoor Hoops Act calling it “inappropriate” and “infeasible” because it asked the parks department to facilitate opening courts that are not under the agency’s jurisdiction. Representatives from the department also cited concerns about limited resources, noting the Parks Department already oversees 1,765 outdoor basketball courts and 21 indoor courts.
Parks Department resources have been a sticking point between Mayor Eric Adams and the city council in budget negotiations. Council members, youth programming advocates and environmental advocates have been pushing the Adams administration to increase funding to the Parks Department by some $80 million dollars in the latest budget saying that the department is key to achieving the city’s sustainability goals.
The city already has a similar program called Schoolyards to Playgrounds Program which allows schoolyards in elementary and middle schools to remain open after school hours and on weekends to serve as public playgrounds in an effort to make outdoor spaces more accessible to New Yorkers. Riley’s bill would take a similar approach to make school courts available to the public outside of school hours.
While the Parks Department said during the hearing that it was opposed to the bill, representatives said their objections were “largely technical in nature” and that the Parks Department was open to exploring creative solutions and interagency partnerships that would increase access to basketball courts for New Yorkers.
