Savage weighs future of basketball court after recent shootings

SAVAGE, Minn. (FOX 9) - The city of Savage is turning to community members for input, as they look for a permanent solution for a park where two juveniles were shot last month.

Two young people were injured when shots rang out near the courts at River Bend Park on May 21, the second shooting to originate at the park in the span of two months.

"Because there’s a lot of differing opinions about what we should be doing long term with the park, we wanted to get people together," said City Administrator Brad Larson. "We want to create change at the park to make sure the park is safe."

The city removed the hoops on the basketball court following the shooting last month - a temporary solution to curb the violence. 

"We don’t typically have shootings in Savage so having two at the same location was very concerning to us and we had concerns that the two were related," said Larson. "To mitigate any future violence, we took the hoops down."

The city hosted two community forums Thursday to discuss the future of the basketball courts and the park as a whole. More than 150 people combined attended the meetings.

Several people who spoke to FOX 9 said removing the hoops has greatly improved the problems at the park. Many suggested replacing the courts altogether. One neighbor suggested a splash pad instead.

"If you have basketball you need people out here supervising because when those kids aren’t supervised, stuff happens," one neighbor said.

The feedback from the community forums is being collected by city staff, and will be compiled into a proposal. The city council is expected to vote on a solution for the park at an upcoming meeting.