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

Collaborative Effort: final fence plan for Mar Vista Soccer Field

Here it is:

the site plan presented February 26, 2008

The proposed fence will be pushed out AROUND the bleachers on three sides.

Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks personnel present indicated they would willingly work with the community to maintain public walk on access to the field when it is not booked by groups.

That means noon pick-up games will continue, as they have for 20 years.

Thanks to everyone in Western Los Angeles soccer—AYSO, CSL club, adult players, park program moms, and local youth not for profit programs--who cared enough to attend hearings, circulate petitions [750 signatures and counting], and write emails. It IS hard to make time to participate in public forums…but just look what was accomplished.

Thanks to ALL my Mar Vista Community Council neighbors and colleagues for their wisdom on this issue.

Thanks to the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks for responding positively to community concerns with a redesigned plan.

And, thanks to Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilmember Rosendahl…and their tireless deputies who assisted so ably.

Finally:

After input received from the entire community last December, it only took one try [and less than four months] to come up with a consensus driven safe fence plan which addressed all concerns.

A powerful argument for transparent public process if ever there was one.

February 26, 2008 at 6:30 PM, Mar Vista Rec Center: Game On, Into Overtime

I want to highlight the importance of a strong public showing for the new LA Rec and Parks Superintendent in support of the Blueprint and safe fence layout.....game on, be there on the 26th!

At the private briefing meeting held for Superintendent Sophia Pina-Cortez last month regarding the soccer field fence, all community leaders in the room affirmed and verified their support of the MVCC Blueprint’s safe fence layout.

I detailed why public access policy, “walk on play”, is an important Mar Vista community value—as evidenced by the stack of petition forms totaling 500+ signatures from our adult and youth stakeholders which I presented to her at that same meeting.

Is there any reason why a parent and child should not be able to walk onto Mar Vista Soccer Field on a sunny morning, or at noon, and kick the ball around if the field is not permitted out to a group?

This shot was taken at one of the regular noon pickup games at the field.
Note the little boy [in the yellow t-shirt] playing with his parent.

Soccer is a family and community building sport.
It transcends generations.

So, is there any REAL reason to exclude groups of working adults, who come out to play pickup games before work on weekdays [an LAMC noise ordinance compliant activity, by the way] or at noon--as happens on any basketball court in this city?

When the people of the City of Los Angeles approved Proposition K [and this ball field was a specific project in that proposition], they never intended to block walk on public access to field spaces simply because surfaces changed from grass to plastic to stand up to more hours of play.

They never intended contract agreements with user groups to take precedence over public access.

They never intended the fencing of large OPEN portions of our public parks, shutting off public access to public amenities, and the enforcement of severely restricted hours at those amenities.

Given the trend towards synthetic turf, and given the approximately 22 independent schools [which will have little or no field space onsite] coming online in the western Los Angeles area over the next few years, preserving walk on public access to all our synthetic ball fields becomes critically important.

Good public policy.

Access for all our stakeholders.

Now.