Hoops league to rent gym

The Costa Mesa City Council on Tuesday night gave the green light to a Santa Ana-based adult basketball league to rent its municipal gym on Sundays for league games.

The Parks and Recreation Commission previously voted to allow Rigoberto Bautista, founder of Aztec Basketball League, to use the court at the Downtown Recreation Center, displacing an average of 22 people who come for drop-in adult basketball and volleyball games.

Councilman Eric Bever appealed the Parks Commission’s decision and voted against allowing the league in but could not find any allies on the council, which approved the contract, 4 to 1.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley implied that Bever opposed the league only because it was primarily made up of Latino players. She said that there were Irish and British soccer organizations that rented city fields without such scrutiny.

Bever denied any racial bias and cited concerns that a city-owned facility was being rented to a business because it paid more money to use the gym than drop-in players did.

“When did it become OK to throw our residents under the bus to make room for a for-profit business?” Bever said. “I am surprised that you think it’s an ethnic issue; it’s not at all.”

Staff members that supervise the court say that drop-in basketball and volleyball programs are available several other times during the week and that Sundays draw a relatively low attendance. The city also stands to make an extra $40,000 per year by renting the gym out to the private league because the for-profit operation would pay a much higher commercial rate for the gym than the drop-in players.

As part of the agreement, Mayor Allan Mansoor asked Bautista to call the league the Costa Mesa Weekend Basketball League, instead of Aztec Basketball League, to avoid the possibility that residents would think it was exclusively for Latinos.

Although he was not at the hearing, Bautista willingly agreed to the name change, according to Recreation Director Jana Ransom.

The league, which Bautista says already has a few teams of Costa Mesans, will give priority registration to local residents under the agreement.

The council approved a six-month contract. Ransom said that if the arrangement worked, the council might consider extending the contract.