Changes at Balboa Park

By now you’ve noticed the restoration of Bull Creek (left hand side of the photo above). Walkways and bridges are open but orange fencing remains around parts of it till the trees grow. While the restoration by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a wonderful thing, there are other changes to the Park under discussion and some of them are controversial.

Balboa Park, officially and awkwardly known as Anthony C. Beilenson Park, is the site proposed for a “Dodger Dreamfield.” This is a “Universal Access” baseball field for disabled children to be built at the southeast corner of the lake (see photo). The LA Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners gave the go-ahead for the field in August, which would be a first for Los Angeles. However money is a challenge – much of the funding was coming from the Dodgers and a charitable trust which reportedly is under SEC indictment for fraud (here), so it’s an open question whether the field will be built.

Friends of Lake Balboa (website here) have argued that the beauty of Lake Balboa lies in its open spaces and that this needs to be preserved, not eroded by more structures.

The best alternative is to build it in the Sports Complex proposed for west-of-Balboa. That’s the area north of the river and south of Victory that was until recently a sod farm and which is now under construction. For more information about this proposed development, refer to the excellent Sepulveda Basin Wildlife website, here. The Sports Complex location will, budget permitting, comprise 2 (scaled down from 4) youth/teen baseball/softball fields, one artificial turf soccer field, open multi-purpose fields, picnic areas, a planted riparian buffer along the Los Angeles River, a walking trail throughout the site, a small support building to house park staff and public restrooms, and a parking lot.

Photo credit: Friends of Lake Balboa