RESIDENTS TAKE CUTS AT BALLPARK PROPOSAL.Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer In Mel Swerdling's opinion, helping even just one youngster beat Los Angeles' mean streets outweighs the need to preserve a Sepulveda Basin feeding ground for Canada geese geese domestic geese which were derived from the wild goose Anser anser. There are many other species in this genus and in the other genus of geese, the Branta spp. of which Branta canadensis is typical. . The local head of American Legion Baseball American Legion Baseball is a variety of amateur baseball played by teenage boys in 45 states in the USA. Purpose According to the American Legion, the purpose of American Legion Baseball is to give young men "an opportunity to develop their skills, personal fitness, wants to build a $500,000 sports complex on 23 acres in Encino, where the group can teach a love for America's national pastime to up to 700 underprivileged youth every summer. ``We are disturbed about the gang warfare gang warfare n → guerra entre bandas , the drugs and the violence, which all really heats up during the mischievous mis·chie·vous adj. 1. Causing mischief. 2. Playful in a naughty or teasing way. 3. Troublesome; irritating: a mischievous prank. 4. summer months,'' said Swerdling, the organization's 20th District commissioner and North Hills resident. ``If you get people to root for each other rather than shoot at each other, they can go straight.'' But local residents, who flocked to the Balboa Balboa, town (1990 pop. 2,751), Colón prov., in the former Panama Canal Zone, on the Gulf of Panama. The port for Panama City, Balboa was the administrative headquarters of the Panama Canal Zone. It was also the site of a U.S. navy base (closed 1999). Sports Center in Encino on Thursday for the first public meeting on the proposal, condemned the plan to put in two full-size diamonds, a meeting room, snack bars and bleachers. ``This will be only a few hundred feet from my back yard,'' said Joan McCormick, one of more than 50 residents to attend the meeting. ``The noise would be unbelievable.'' Wildlife advocates maintain that developing the field near White Oak Avenue and Oxnard Street would drive the federally protected geese away from the 2,097-acre basin. ``If that cornfield goes, then we have blown away the capacity of the Sepulveda Basin to sustain migratory migratory /mi·gra·to·ry/ (mi´grah-tor?e) 1. roving or wandering. 2. of, pertaining to, or characterized by migration; undergoing periodic migration. migratory emanating from or pertaining to migration. waterfowl waterfowl, common term for members of the order Anseriformes, wild, aquatic, typically freshwater birds including ducks, geese, and screamers. In Great Britain the term is also used to designate species kept for ornamental purposes on private lakes or ponds, while in ,'' Peter Ireland, chairman of the Coalition to Save Sepulveda Basin, said before the meeting. The Valley's population of Canada geese is estimated to reach 3,000 during the migratory season. Swerdling, a retired engineer, says that the wild birds can feed in other Valley areas, adding that the baseball facility comes out ``smelling like a rose'' in a preliminary environmental report he prepared on the project. The document, which states that the site ``is not heavily used by wildlife,'' maintains that the project does not need a more extensive impact report. The document also states that the ballpark's sound system would not be heard at homes along Delano, Calvert and Bessemer streets - about 700 feet away. Experts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the basin land, said Swerdling's report downplays the project's impact. ``There has to be a lot of additional work on the draft,'' said Tedd Carr, an outdoor recreation planner with the Corps of Engineers. The Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Department of Recreation and Parks, which manages recreation in the basin, also would have to approve it. The cornfield was the site of baseball fields until the late 1970s and the Corps of Engineers has been leasing it to a commercial corn grower since. Once approved, it would take five years to complete the project but the ball fields could be used by Memorial Day 1998, Swerdling said. He said volunteer workers would need $500,000 in supplies. About 89,000 youths participate in American Legion Baseball nationwide. Some 34 teams participate in the 20th District, which includes the Antelope and San Fernando valleys San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Swerdling said the organization would hold free, all-day summer baseball clinics Noun 1. baseball clinic - a meeting at which baseball players receive special evaluation and instruction; "a summer baseball clinic for promising young players" clinic - meeting for diagnosis of problems and instruction or remedial work in a particular activity for 13- to 18-year-olds at the site. It would target youths at risk of joining gangs or getting into trouble with the law. ``If we could save one kid who is 13 years old who is getting into trouble, all this is worth it,'' Swerdling said before the meeting. CAPTION(S): map Map: New Valley Ballpark proposed |
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