What do you think caused that breh? Gentrification? Young kids with different interests? I'm curious.
Some possibilities:
I see empty courts in non-gentrified areas, so though it is a factor, I don't think that is a big factor.
I think as NYC has become less black American and Puerto Rican and more Caribbean and Central American the past 30 years, the cultural impact of the game has diminished in the city. This is why you now see soccer balls and even cricket on basketball courts
The under-21 generation of youth are not outside play-inclined. They are too dedicated to video gaming, cell phones and social media.
Several generations of fatherlessness in the hood has translated to a feminized boy culture where unless sports activity is formally organized (AAU, school, rec), it is non-existent.
Gang life in the city picked up in the 90s to 2000s, sucking the youth into that world and making the streets/courts more dangerous.
I don't think community vibrancy ever returned to the NYC streets after the Crack Trade Wars in the 80s and 90s. Stickball is gone, too. So is skelly, double-dutch and turntables -w-mixers and speakers in the parks -- all now faded NYC black memories.
