A very big thank you to FC Los Angeles parents, players and coaches who came out last night and spoke to the importance of retaining playable field space on the Mark Twain MS campus. With an overflow, SRO crowd,  the Mar Vista Community Council voted to support the West Mar Vista Residents Association motion--that is, the motion that preserves the field space at Twain. Well done! 

Whereas the Mar Vista Community and the parents of the Mandarin Immersion
Program at Broadway Elementary School agree with Board Member Zimmer’s
statement, and as quoted: "To find a balance for educational needs and the
protection of the quality of life of the Mar Vista Stakeholders", and

Whereas the Draft Environmental Impact Report “Mandarin and English Dual-
Language Immersion Elementary School Project” prepared for the Los Angeles
Unified School District ‘LAUSD’ by Sapphos Environmental, Inc. for the LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety was released for review March 26, 2015, and

Whereas that Draft EIR clearly states the alternative of least impact is the
‘Redistricting Alternative’,

Therefore, the Mar Vista Community Council asks that LAUSD and Board
Member Zimmer implement "The Redistricting Alternative", and the MVCC also
requests the support of Councilmember Bonin going forward, as it offers the
least impacts to the community; preserves valuable open space; enhances
community equity by promoting use of existing local underutilized campus
facilities--thereby improving neighborhood schools; and saves the public $30
million on a new campus that is not needed.

MARK TWAIN/MANDARIN IMMERSION PLAYGROUND ACRES

In 1986, LAUSD was sued, and forced to apply a reasonable student density/playground space formula to campuses:

“In the case of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), compliance with the Rodriguez Consent Decree, which additionally recommends the following playground areas:

Elementary School

Up to 500 students           1.4 playground acres

Up to 750 students           1.7 playground acres

Up to 1,000 students        2.0 playground acres

Up to 1,250 students        2.3 playground acres

Junior High/Middle School

Up to 2,400 students        6.0 playground acres

High School        

Up to 3,600 students        9.0 playground acres

When the consent decree was lifted in 2006, LAUSD issued Policy Bulletin BUL-2574.0 which stated:

“On April 7, 2006, the District obtained a favorable court ruling that ended the Rodriguez Consent Decree. The court denied the plaintiffs’ request to extend the term of the decree beyond December 2005. While the District has prevailed, it is important to continue to maintain the established policies and procedures used to ensure that the school density guidelines are kept and that the highly qualified and experienced teachers are equitably distributed among all schools.”

Screen shot of Twain showing existing playground acres

Proposed project states on page 3P-5 of the DEIR that there is ‘no net loss’ of rec facilities/acres:

Implementation of the proposed project would provide the new Mandarin and English Dual-Language Immersion Elementary School with elementary and kindergarten play areas, potentially resulting in no net loss of recreational facilities after the removal of a portion of an athletic field (1.9 acres) and an oval track (1.0 acre). Approximately 2 acres of the turf athletic field would remain as part of the middle school campus, as well as approximately 3.06 acres of asphalt recreation area, including nine tennis courts, 12 full-sized basketball courts, six half-sized basketball courts, 11 four-square courts, multiple handball courts, and a straight track for short-distance running. The oval track would be redrawn around the remaining asphalt recreation area.

·        DEIR states the total of the remaining playground space as approximately 5.6 acres.

·        Rodriguez Consent Decree Bulletin recommends space of 1.7 acres [elementary school] for up to 750 students and 6.0 acres [middle school] for up to 2400 students for a total of 7.7 acres. ZIMAS calculates existing Twain playground space at about 7.8 acres.

·        LAUSD is therefore violating its own stated policy on playground space at Twain by creating a potential net loss of 2.2 acres or about 1/3 of the existing space. LAUSD needs to retain all the existing playground space if a new campus is added.

Game On: 2015 version

By now, most of you have heard about the Mark Twain commuter school project.
And 500 of you are opposed to it based on traffic; noise; waste of taxpayer funds.
But there is another impact to our community here: it will pave over one half--that's right, a whopping 50%--of the existing green field space utilized by students and youth sports at Twain.

I'm not just going to tell you, I am going to show you why this is a significant impact to public ball fields in the area bounded by the Pacific Palisades, the 405, the Pacific Ocean, and LAX.

Take a look at the fields available: a measly total of 50.69 playable acres for all our kids--and adults, too. Note that fields shared between baseball and soccer cannot be used by those sports simultaneously. 

Right now between AYSO and club soccer, there are approximately 712 youth soccer teams with 8,250 players active in the area.

I didn't count other programs which need large field space to be properly taught and safely played: baseball; softball; lacrosse. I also didn't count park programs which have priority over other users. Or adult leagues.

You do the math--and remember, there is NO way to replace this space. Once it is gone, it's gone. 

FIELD SPACE SURVEY W405 BREAKOUT
Facility	Address	Zip	Lights	Park Area	Playable Fields	Soccer Fields	Baseball Fields
				Acres	Acres
Admiralty Park	Admiralty Wy, MDR LAco	90292	no	6.19	0	0	0
Ballona Wetlands/Playa Vista LL	Lincoln @ Jefferson, LA	90292	no	556.01	5.57	0	3
Barrington Rec Center	333 S Barrington LA	90049	yes	5.02	1.11	1	1
Burton Chase Park	Mindinao Wy, MDR LAco	90292	yes	9.66	0	0	0
Carl Nielsen Park	Will Rogers St, LA	90045	yes	8	5.48	1	2
Culver Slauson Park	5070 Slauson, LA	90230	no	1.99	0	0	0
Del Rey Lagoon Park	6660 Esplanade, PDR	90293	no	10.64	1.26	0	1
Dockweiler State Beach	Vista Del Mar, PDR	90293	no	249.81	0	0	0
Glen Alla Park	4601 Alla Rd, MDR	90292	no	4.79	0	0	0
Mar Vista Gardens Park	4901 Marionwood Dr, LA	90230	no	2.28	2.28	1	1
Mar Vista Park*	11430 Woodbine Av, MV	90066	no	18.45	7.65	2	3
North Venice LL/Ocean View Farms	Rose Av @ Centinela LA	90066	no	14.39	4.35	0	3
Oakwood Rec Center	767 California Av,  Ven	90291	yes	3.64	2.23	1	2
Palisades Recreation Center	851 Alma Real LA	90272	yes	17.18	3.15	0	2
Penmar Park/Golf Course	1341 Lake St, Ven	90291	yes	62.08	5.83	2	5
Playa Vista Central Park	E. Waterfront Dr. LA	90292	no	7.7	0.5	1	0
Stoner Rec Center	1835 Stoner Ave LA	90025	yes	8.9	3.42	0	2
Venice Beach	Venice @ Speedway, Ven	90291	no	211.97	0	0	0
Vista Del Mar Park	Vista Del Mar, PDR	90293	no	1.06	0	0	0
Westchester Rec Center/Golf Course	7000 W Manchester, LA	90045	yes	96.97	7.86	2	3
Westminster Park	1234 Pacific Av, Ven	90291	no	2.17	0	0	0
			Totals	1298.9	50.69	11	28
				Acres	Playable Acres	Soccer Fields	Baseball Fields
City of Los Angeles Rec and Parks facilities in the area bounded by Pacific Palisades, 405, 105 Freeways and the Pacific Ocean
Inglewood, Culver City, Santa Monica, Will Rogers, and Veterans Administration facilities are  excluded because permitting by outside groups is problematic
LAUSD athletic fields are excluded; there is no uniform fields’ access policy. Each principal makes the call on availability
Sites leased to local Los Angeles youth sports groups are included: North Venice LL (DWP/LARAP) and Playa Vista LL (CA DFG)
LA County facilities at Marina Del Rey (Admiralty Park; Burton Chase Park) are included
'Park Area-Acres' defined as all open space/park/rec  space: beaches, wetlands, golf courses, hardscape (ball courts, community centers,  etc)
'Playable Fields Acres' defined as the total acres physically available and sized appropriately for baseball & soccer game play
'Playable Fields Acres' measured and calculated using the City of LA ZIMAS website tool