Some against Dreamfield at Lake Balboa

NIMBYISM at its worst, amazing how evil people are when it comes to building something for a disabled person, children no less, Oh we need more meadows and picnic tables screw the little kids in wheelchairs , nice real nice. people in the valley are ridiculous , start thinking about other people foe once and maybe you wont lead such a bitter life. friend of the basin? are you kiddin me?

You should be ashamed wrote:

NIMBYISM at its worst, amazing how evil people are when it comes to building something for a disabled person, children no less, Oh we need more meadows and picnic tables screw the little kids in wheelchairs , nice real nice. people in the valley are ridiculous , start thinking about other people foe once and maybe you wont lead such a bitter life. friend of the basin? are you kiddin me?

I don't live in the Valley, but I've been to Lake Balboa several times. Although it's easy to label this as nimbyism, that is an uneducated cheap shot at a truly beautiful park. One of the nice attributes of the Balboa Park is the peaceful nature of the Lake area without having to put up with the traffic, noise, hustle & bustle of any sports activities like baseball, football, or soccer. There are many other places around the Sepulveda Basin dedicated to Sports including golf, soccer, baseball, cricket. Why can't this well-attended park just be left to the people that just want to jog, stroll, fish, picnic, or just relax in peace?

If Frank and Jamie McCourt are involved then the residents should fight this tooth and nail. The McCourts are self-promoting scambugs.

Fight McCourt wrote:

If Frank and Jamie McCourt are involved then the residents should fight this tooth and nail. The McCourts are self-promoting scambugs.

I guess you are an Angels fan.

It is obvious people in the valley don't like people who are not like them and now they are showing they don't like people with disabilities in their neighborhood. The valley has a lot of growing up to do. It is a shame.

Jay wrote:

It is obvious people in the valley don't like people who are not like them and now they are showing they don't like people with disabilities in their neighborhood. The valley has a lot of growing up to do. It is a shame.

Nice generalization Jay. The rest of Lost Angeles is dying. enjoy!

West Valley Dave Smith,

Great!!! I am glad finally somebody called me out. Now if you are not a hypocrite you will also leave the same comment when people from the valley post their racist comments. So, it seems we are both on the same page.

Help me, help the valley grow up.

Jay wrote:

West Valley Dave Smith,
Great!!! I am glad finally somebody called me out. Now if you are not a hypocrite you will also leave the same comment when people from the valley post their racist comments. So, it seems we are both on the same page.
Help me, help the valley grow up.

Unfortunately, the change in attitudes that you are looking for would be like trying to convince someone to stop smoking. The only one who can convince you about that is yourself. Its the same thing here.

Looks like the city is following its long tradition of misusing open space. From putting a trash dump in Griffith Park over the objections of the Griffith family who donated it to building a white elephant unused Childrens Museum in Lake View Terrace, and now this. What is the point of putting a disabled kids facility in the middle of a park? Councilman Cardenas just doesn't seem to get the idea of open space in a park.

Why can't handicap kids use a regular field, perhaps with special features for their needs?

if some kind of adaptation is all that is needed why not add handicap accessibility features to a half dozen or more parks and form a "special kids league" that would share fields with other teams

instead you've got the perfect political mess, say your opponents hate little handicap kids if you don't get your way. Priceless.

I live walking distance to Lake Balboa. Our neighborhood has more Hispanic people than I ever encountered when I lived in Miracle Mile. We have more black neighbors ( & friends) than when I lived in Hollywood.
The valley would like to break away from Los Angeles so we could - oh, I don't know - perhaps keep our tax money in our own school districts and perhaps have ONE museum here. It's great how all the money for arts is kept on the "other side of the hill". I would call that its own special type of NIMBYism.
Wanting to keep one NICE ELEMENT in our neighborhood from becoming over run by too many activities and people is hardly an attack on disabled people.
So, Jay & "You People Should be Ashamed" - keep out of it & grow up. You don't know what you're talking about.

Rita wrote:

The valley would like to break away from Los Angeles so we could - oh, I don't know - perhaps keep our tax money in our own school districts and perhaps have ONE museum here. It's great how all the money for arts is kept on the "other side of the hill".

Because those freeways (101, 118, 5, 405, 210) have been there for centuries and require no funding, right?

You had a chance to get ONE museum there. The Valleyites couldn't even raise the money for that.

Steve, handicapped children can't always use a regular ball field for numerous reasons:
1) Walkers & wheelchairs aren't equipped to roll on dirt and grass (for both the infield and outfield).
2) The dimensions of the field are smaller than a non-special-needs field.
Check out http://www.miracleleague.com/ to get an idea of what this would look similar to.
Aaron, last time I checked, the museum was going to be called the "Children's Museum of Los Angeles" and not the "Children's Museum of the San Fernando Valley." As a resident of the city of Los Angeles, it's everyone's responsibility to bring museums to our youth - not just those in the valley.

Aaron wrote:

<quoted text>
Because those freeways (101, 118, 5, 405, 210) have been there for centuries and require no funding, right?
You had a chance to get ONE museum there. The Valleyites couldn't even raise the money for that.

Freeways here for "centuries"... right. And the museum built out in Lakeview Terrace was in the middle of the sticks. Great location. You can thank your Lost Angeles city padres for that one.

Modify one of the fields at Balboa Park across the street. No one mentioned the ugly parking at Lake Balboa yet. There are also numerous fields off of Oxnard street between White Oak and Balboa. Why not use one of them? Or put a field on Louise and Victory where the old West Valley Little League field was. It's just a scrapyard for METRO now.

South Weddington Park, near Universal Studios, has some baseball fields. When these fields are not in use by a baseball league, the fields are fenced in and locked up. This makes the area of the park completely inaccessible to any other people that wish to use the park -- include those that come to toss a baseball with their children.
The park around Lake Balboa is extremely busy. Try stopping by on a Saturday and you will see huge soccer games, people cleaning the LA river, bikers, runners, military recruitment camps, picnics, parties, families and individuals. This is not an area I would consider to be lightly used.
This makes me wonder, if a special needs baseball park is created in the middle of Balboa, does this now remove this land from use by EVERYONE ELSE? If so, yes, I do have major issues with this plan. The valley is sorely lacking when it comes to decent parks. On the east side of the valley where I live, every single park hugs the freeway. These parks on are on land that schools can't be constructed on because of the air pollution, which is to say it is unsafe for children to play in these parks. For people living in an apartment building, parks are the only opportunities they have to spend time outside. So yes, I do see it as being perfectly reasonable and the sign of a citizen that cares about where they live to fight against something as specialized and selfish as a baseball field in the middle of a park with an extremely high usage rate considering the current accomidations.

Baseball diamonds are a huge waste of open space and park space. They go unused most of the time and only have one purpose. They're also expensive to maintain. When they are used, they disrupt neighborhoods with screaming, drunk fans and players.

Put sporting facilities like this in parks that have been taken over by criminal gangs.

Screaming drunk fans of handicap kids?