By Emilie St. John
Contributing Writer
COMPTON — The City Council has unanimously approved a donation from Body Armor to refurbish an outdoor basketball court.
The sports drink maker is on a mission to refurbish 10 basketball courts and renovate youth clinic facilities across the nation. The initiative is in the memory of late NBA star Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
Body Armor requested a list of parks from the city and selected Wilson Park, which is located in Council District 2.
“I am super excited about the basketball court and the community is going to be amazed at how the basketball courts are going to look,” Councilman Andre Spicer said.
When asked if the project will expand to other parks, he was optimistic.
“The goal is to build up all of our parks and we just so happened to get a grant from Body Armor and they chose the park they wanted to donate to after we provided them a list,” Spicer added.
According to a staff report that was part of the May 16 City Council agenda, several outdoor basketball courts throughout the city are in dire need of repair.
Prior to April, the Recreation Department was without a director and full staff. During the recruitment period, no maintenance or repairs for the outdoor basketball courts were performed.
Since then the city manager has hired a Recreation Director and little by little, the parks are being staffed and reopened, but there is still a great need to bring the parks back to full operations.
The cost of the new basketball court is $67,000.
The council held a discussion on the matter before approving the donation as many had questions on how the park was selected and why more documentation wasn’t included.
Councilwoman Lillie Darden had questions on whether the donation was being accepted in the proper manner.
“I have asked the city manager to see copy of the letter where Body Armor has offered to refurbish the basketball courts and see the information provided to them to refurbish the court at Wilson Park,” Darden said. “I would like to see the letter where Body Armor requested information from the city or how the city became aware the funds were available.”
City Manager Thomas Thomas explained it was an email exchange between the grants manager and Body Armor and they made the selection.
The staff report on the item doesn’t include the emails or any award letter from Body Armor.
City Attorney Eric Perrodin then interjected, saying the documents went through his office and therefore that’s why it was approved to be placed on the agenda for approval.
Mayor Emma Sharif then asked why there wasn’t a letter sent to the attached to the agenda report.
“No letter was sent to the city. Body Armor reached out to the city via a phone call back in August 2022 and came full circle in the last 30 days that they wanted to donate an in-kind service to fix the court at Wilson Park and we provided them a list of parks and they selected that park,” said Trammell Woods, grants compliance manager.
A reporter reached out to Body Armor to get more details on the donation.
David Rokeach, director of sports and entertainment partnerships with Body Armor, would only respond that the company “was aiming for middle to late June for the completion.”
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist covering the areas of Carson, Compton, Inglewood and Willowbrook. Send tips to her at emiliesaintjohn@gmail.com