(BPRW) Attorney Eric Sanders files Article 78 proceeding challenging Handling of Connie Hawkins Court Renaming Proposal in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn

Brooklyn Community Board 3 and City Respondents Accused of Leaving Longstanding St Andrews Playground Proposal in Administrative Limbo Despite Years of Community, Family, Civic and Basketball Support

(Black PR Wire) BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Attorney Eric Sanders, of The Sanders Firm, P.C., has filed an Article 78 proceeding in New York State Supreme Court, Kings County, on behalf of James McDougal, president of Concerned Community 4 Change Sports, a sports initiative associated with Concerned Community 4 Change, Inc., challenging the handling of a long-pending proposal to rename the basketball courts at St. Andrew’s Playground in honor of Basketball Hall of Famer Cornelius “Connie” Hawkins.

The case is pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Kings County, under Index No. 523089/2026. The respondents are the City of New York, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura, Community Board No. 3, Brooklyn, and Community Board No. 3 District Manager Nadeen Gayle.

The petition contends that respondents improperly delayed, stalled, or failed to issue a reasoned written determination on the proposal despite years of community support for the project. The petition further alleges that Community Board No. 3’s advisory role may have been treated as a practical veto over a naming decision that ultimately belongs to NYC Parks.

McDougal and Concerned Community 4 Change Sports began pursuing the renaming campaign in 2019. The effort is intended to recognize Hawkins’ basketball legacy and his direct connection to Bedford-Stuyvesant, where he was born and raised. Hawkins developed his reputation on New York City playground courts before becoming one of basketball’s most celebrated players.

According to McDougal, under the prior mayoral administration, the proposal received broad support from the Mayor’s Office, the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner, the Hawkins family, members of the basketball community, and approximately 98 percent of residents surveyed in the neighborhood. The organization also says supporters affiliated with Basketball Hall of Famer Nate “Tiny” Archibald and the New York Basketball History Project recently joined the campaign.

The petition alleges that Hawkins was not an obscure or marginal proposed honoree. Hawkins was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant and became one of New York City’s legendary playground basketball figures before achieving national recognition as an American Basketball Association Most Valuable Player, National Basketball Association All-NBA First Team selection, and 1992 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

The petition further contends that Hawkins’ life carries unusual civic and historical significance because he was excluded from the highest levels of organized basketball during his athletic prime despite not being arrested, indicted, or convicted in connection with the scandal that damaged his early career. His later professional success and Hall of Fame induction, the petition alleges, reflect athletic greatness, institutional exclusion, delayed opportunity, and public vindication.

“This case is not about asking a court to substitute its judgment for NYC Parks on a commemorative naming decision,” Sanders said. “It is about whether government actors may leave a community proposal in indefinite limbo, apply shifting unpublished criteria, and allow an advisory community-board process to function as a practical veto without a reasoned written determination.”

McDougal said the lawsuit follows nearly seven years of unsuccessful efforts to secure final consideration and approval of the renaming proposal.

“Brooklyn has earned its reputation as the Mecca of Basketball,” McDougal said. “During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Connie Hawkins inspired an entire generation of young New Yorkers through his legendary performances on the playgrounds of Brooklyn. Today, we see that same kind of inspiration in players like Jalen Brunson, whose leadership has helped restore New York City’s prominence in the basketball world. We believe Connie Hawkins deserves to be permanently honored in the neighborhood where that legacy began.”

The Article 78 petition does not ask the court to rename the courts itself. Instead, it asks the court to require respondents to process the proposal under lawful, ascertainable, and even handed standards; identify any alleged deficiency in writing; disclose whether any adverse position is based on written policy, established practice, formal board action, or a reasoned agency determination; and issue a final written determination subject to judicial review.

The petition also challenges what it describes as shifting and non-criteria-based explanations for delay, including alleged lack of family support, alleged insufficient fame, alleged absence of Community Board No. 3 naming procedures, administrative delay, and demands for additional support not clearly grounded in any written rule.

According to the petition, those explanations are contradicted by the record of community, elected-official, family, civic, and basketball support for the proposal. The petition alleges that the core issue is not whether Connie Hawkins is worthy of recognition, but whether respondents handled the proposal through a lawful, transparent, and reviewable administrative process.

Concerned Community 4 Change Sports has previously worked to recognize Brooklyn basketball figures through public commemorations. In 2024, the organization participated in the co-naming of the intersection of Utica Avenue and Prospect Place in honor of former Indiana Pacers star Roger Brown, another Brooklyn basketball legend.

About Concerned Community 4 Change, Inc.

Concerned Community 4 Change, Inc. is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization. The organization is made up of educators, activists, social workers, parents, physicians, and concerned citizens working to address deeply troubling trends affecting young people, including childhood obesity, academic failure, and underachievement.

The organization’s mission is to provide at-risk youth with a mechanism to make positive, healthy decisions for themselves. Its vision is to engage young people through programs that put positive principles into practice, build healthy minds, bodies, and spirits, and help produce well-balanced adults prepared to meet life’s challenges.

Concerned Community 4 Change, Inc.
P.O. Box 160267
Brooklyn, New York 11216

About The Sanders Firm, P.C.

The Sanders Firm, P.C. is a New York-based law firm focused on civil rights, employment discrimination, police misconduct, constitutional accountability, immigration consequences, and other high-stakes matters. Its founder and president, Eric Sanders, Esq., is a retired NYPD officer who brings a rare inside perspective to the intersection of government power, public institutions, enforcement discretion, and constitutional accountability.

For more than twenty years, Sanders has counseled thousands of clients and handled complex matters involving police use of force, sexual harassment, retaliation, systemic discrimination, immigration-related consequences, and related civil-rights violations. He is widely recognized as a leading New York civil-rights attorney and a prominent voice on evidence-based policing, institutional accountability, equal justice, and government accountability.

Press Conference

James McDougal, Concerned Community 4 Change Sports, community supporters, basketball-history advocates, and counsel are expected to hold a press conference on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at 10:00 a.m., to discuss the Article 78 proceeding, the proposed Connie Hawkins court renaming, and the broader importance of preserving Brooklyn’s basketball history.

The press conference is expected to take place outside Brooklyn Community Board No. 3, located at 1360 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, New York 11216.

Additional details will be provided as appropriate.

The court has not yet ruled on the petition. Brooklyn Community Board No. 3 has not publicly responded to the allegations contained in the filing.

Media Contact

James McDougal
President, Concerned Community 4 Change Sports
Brooklyn, New York
Telephone: (347) 323-3844