As Measure S rounds third, youth sports struggle to make it out of the batters' box
The new all-turf baseball diamond at recently renovated Apollo Park. Photo by Alex Dominguez
DOWNEY - In the wake of mass construction and development around the city, many of the youth in the community are finding it increasingly hard to “play ball.”
The city of Downey is quickly approaching the final stretch of Measure S, a half cent sales tax increase approved by voters in 2016 meant to generate approximately $9 million per year towards community enhancement.
Most notably, the measure is credited for the enhancement of the city’s parks and public safety.
The development is not without its critics, some of whom believe that the planning of all the construction is less than ideal and too much at once.
However, according to Assistant City Manager John Oskoui, much of the work is actually on time – and in some cases, ahead of schedule – considering the condensed timetable that the city was forced to work under.
“Between the time that we secured the funding, and the time that we had to spend the funding…essentially, we had about 2 ½ years to finish all the projects,” said Oskoui. “That’s a feat; that’s quite a bit of work to be done.”
Oskoui noted that despite receiving the funding in 2017, by January 2018 there were still no designs for anything.
“There’s still the process of completing the design, and there is a due process that the city has to follow,” said Oskoui. “Typically, from the day you decide to design something, to the day that you have a set of design documents in hand that you can go out there and advertise for competitive bidding… it takes about a year. We had to condense that whole process into about nine months.”
Oskoui said that the city began designing around May and June, and was able to complete the design process in just “four or five months.” He described the entire process as a “monumental task.”
When it came time to coordinate the order of construction, Oskoui says that he “knew that we could not shut down all the parks at the same time,” describing the process more as an “overlap.”
“We had three phases for our parks. Phase one was Apollo and Dennis the Menace Park,” said Oskoui. “Guess what, we finished the construction in six months, and we have a grand re-opening for both of those parks this Saturday.”
“Phase two was Golden Park, Independence Park, and Wilderness Park around the ponds…those projects are going to get done in early Spring.”
Phase three – Furman Park – will be completed in June / July next year.
Oskoui added that planning was attempted to be set up in a way that when one park became unavailable, there was another park that families could travel to that was “reasonably distanced” and “reasonably accommodates their pragmatic needs.”
“We were trying to accommodate the public,” said Oskoui. “You can’t close all the parks for 2 ½ years, so how do you stage that, balance those needs, and how do you also use the economies of scale, because one thing we didn’t want to do is bid one park at a time, because that would have stretched out the duration beyond 2 ½ years, and it would have been much more expensive.
Still, if there is one group that this comes as little comfort to, its many of the organized youth sports organizations. As work on each park progresses, board members, coaches, parents, and children alike are somewhat scrambling to keep their players on the field in the meantime.
According to Sesilia Gonzalez, Regional Commissioner of AYSO, the organization has had to “make some adjustments” due to the sudden lack of available play space.
“We have about 1,400 players,” said Gonzalez. “Now that we have daylight savings, I know that our usual schools that we use, we can’t use them because there’s no lights, and we don’t have the resources to be able to use a park with lights so [our teams] can continue practicing. Our season doesn’t end for another four weeks.”
Ernesto Valle, President of Northwest Downey Little League (NWDLL), mirrored these sentiments.
“It’s been hard,” said Valle. “First and foremost, obviously, we’re happy that they’re investing and our parks and schools; it’s been needed for many years. But to do it all at the same time has been a struggle, because the parks that are left over, they themselves need work or they don’t have lights.”
“When you’re looking at the number of kids – last year, with Challengers, we pulled in about 550 kids – we’re all fighting for the same little piece of land available...most of our sports – AYSO, soccer, baseball – they’re year-round sports.”
This was a fact that came up between each organization and Pam Passow, Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, who sat down with league presidents to try and coordinate a time that would be the least impactful on each sport season.
However, Passow said that the relatively new trend of year-round play made attempting to make these plans “a lot more challenging.”
For NWDLL, it’s affected recruitment.
“It definitely hit us hard in Winter Ball,” said Valle, who added that NWDLL is currently in an adjustment period with it’s new Board. “[Parents] didn’t know if we were going to have Winter Ball…we have to constantly communicate with the parents, because they’re scared, ‘Where are we going to play at.’”
Johnny Lemucchi – who coaches for AYSO and NWDLL in addition to serving as the latter’s Coach Coordinator – added that “Nobody knows where game sites are gonna be.”
“That was a big conversation at winter ball,” said Lemucchi. “We didn’t know how many teams we were going to have; soccer, the same thing.”
“Kids want to play; that’s it. That’s what we try to do as coaches. We try to work together; we try to share the fields…you try to make the best.”
Mayor Rick Rodriguez, City Manager Gilbert Livas, and Assistant City Manager John Oskui tour Apollo Park. Photo by Alex Dominguez
Gonzalez added, “Give them a patch of grass, we’ll do something with it.”
Valle says that there is a tentative agreement with the Parks and Recreation Department to play at Discovery Park until mid-April when NWDLL “is encouraged that we’ll get Furman back,” – although there is nothing set in stone.
Jason Chacon of Parks and Rec said that this is true “in part,” describing the situation as a “big puzzle piece.” Chacon clarified that the field at Discovery is one of several fields – including at Downey Adult School and Rio San Gabriel, that could be utilized.
Gonzalez agreed that despite the frustration, communication with Parks and Rec has been consistent.
“They’re keeping us informed every step of the way,” said Gonzalez.
“They’re fighting for us,” added Valle. “There are things that are unfortunately out of their control.”
Compounding the dilemma is the construction at DUSD Schools, due to Measure O.
“We lost Sussman Middle School,” said Gonzalez. “With the construction happening at Griffiths, we lost one of our main fields, and a couple of small ones. I think we lost four fields. Those are just for games.”
DUSD responded with a statement, saying,
“Currently our construction projects are only taking place at the middle school level, with Doty Middle School scheduled to begin in June 2020. Only portion of the middle schools’ fields are being affected by construction and various youth sports organizations, city and community, are still able to utilize the remaining portions of the fields. For example, AYSO continues to have use of the field at Griffiths Middle School as well as the full field at Price Elementary School. As these projects move forward, we will continue to work together with our community partners who use our fields to assist to find alternative locations.”
Of course, these losses are not permanent, and the incoming upgrades are not unappreciated. Its just taking a little extra teamwork to pull through.
“Again, from our standpoint, we’re very happy that it’s happening,” said Valle. “Could it have been done differently? Yes. But, we’re very happy and excited.”
As the end of Measure S approaches next year, Oskoui says that “this is going to be a busy summer,” however he hopes residents will remain proud of their city despite the period of “discomfort.”
“With all of these improvements, you are making a better city that is going to be a shining example in your region,” said Oskoui. “With that comes recognition, improved property values, and more important than anything else, pride.”
“Everything we are doing right here is to make a source of pride for our residents…”