The basketball court at the beloved Runyon Canyon, paid for by a donor whose branding would appear on the new installation, has been halted after an outcry from locals and the intervention of the councilmember who reps the area. The LA Times report that a statement from Councilmember David Ryu says that the Board of Recreation and Parks commissioners will soon "reconsider its prior approval of this project" too.
That prior approval came in November. The deal was that Neima Khaila, CEO of the clothing brand Pink+Dolphin, would pay for the construction of a much-needed retaining wall at the park, and, in exchange, the city would build a new basketball court on the site of an old tennis court in Runyon. The new basketball court would have the logo of Khaila's company on it; Khaila was putting up more than $250,000 for the project.
Opponents of the park were outraged about the court, which they say needs a much more thorough round of testing and environmental analysis before it can be put in, but seemed extra upset about the fact that they hadn't heard about the project earlier.
Most found out about the basketball project earlier this month, around the same time that Runyon closed for four months of unrelated repairs, to fix old pipes that run through it. Also this week, some opponents organized to file a lawsuit against the project, hoping to freeze the project and get the board to take back their prior approval.
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