Columnist Jeff German: Hoops refs need to call it both ways

Friday, Jan. 24, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

If you live in Summerlin North, you have to follow the rules. You pay large monthly fees to follow the rules.

It's one reason why the master-planned community, the home of some 40,000 people in northwest Las Vegas, is one of the valley's cleanest and safest residential developments.

But rules sometimes aren't fair to everyone -- which is why the Summerlin North Community Association finds itself mired in controversy over whether residents can leave temporary basketball hoops in front of their homes 24 hours a day.

Ever try to move one of those hoops, which have bases filled with sand? You have to be an Olympic weightlifter to drag one in and out of a garage.

Because they aren't weightlifters, a handful of Summerlin North's upscale residents -- people like Terri Janison, Shelley Scirone and Danny Amster -- have been breaking the silly hoops rule the past two years. They have dared to keep their hoops up 24-7.

For their defiance, the association has harassed, bullied and threatened them with fines, lawsuits and foreclosures on their homes. Janison's hoop was vandalized after she participated in a public protest last November.

At the same time, the association has refused to pressure other, wealthier homeowners, those with more clout, to remove their hoops.

If this sounds ridiculous and unfair, well it is.

"Look at me. I'm shaking," Janison said Wednesday, extending her arm to show the tremors in her hands, as she was about to speak out against the rule once more at the monthly Summerlin North board meeting.

"It's not about the hoops anymore. It's about selective enforcement. We just want to be treated fairly."

To Janison, fairly means being allowed to keep her basketball hoop up around the clock like the wealthier Summerlin North residents who benefited from a rule change in the middle of the fight.

Last April the homeowners association approved permanent basketball hoops in driveways or on garages as long as they were at least 40 feet from the curb.

Association President Hal Bloch said the new rule was meant to be a compromise to allow hoops that don't detract from the development's pristine "streetscape."

But the rule merely accommodated the richest homeowners who have 40-foot or longer driveways -- the members the association is afraid to bully.

It left the majority of homeowners, including Janison, Scirone and Amster, who have 15-20 foot driveways, out of luck.

Well maybe not. Maybe there's a simple solution here that will be fair to everyone in Summerlin North.

If a homeowner wants to put up a hoop, let the residents of that block make the final call. Let them vote, with the process overseen by the board members of the local developments.

If the people affected the most by a neighborhood basketball hoop don't mind it, the association shouldn't mind it, either.