Protest Grows Against Air Force Housing at Bogdanovich Center

To city and Air Force negotiators, Martin J. Bogdanovich Recreation Center is the linchpin of a fragile agreement that would allow more military housing here while preserving land for an oceanfront state park.

To hundreds of children who play soccer at the center, to football players from Mary Star of the Sea High School who practice there, and to relatives and associates of its namesake, the 22-acre park is a lot more.

Several dozen children and parents held a demonstration at the park last weekend in an attempt to persuade Los Angeles City Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, who represents San Pedro, to back out of a “conceptual” agreement with the Air Force that calls for military housing at the park.

The park, dedicated in 1983, was named after the founder of Star-Kist Foods, a longtime San Pedro resident and community activist who died in 1944. The city used about $420,000 in state funds to landscape the park and help construct baseball and soccer fields, but large portions of the park remain undeveloped.

Still Haggling

The city and the Air Force, who are still haggling over details of the agreement, settled on the Bogdanovich site in July after the city objected to Air Force plans to build 170 homes at nearby White Point Park, which the city hopes to spare for a state park.

The Air Force has rights to take land “in the national interest” at both parks, since they once belonged to the Department of Defense and were turned over to the city under the condition that they could be reclaimed. The Air Force has invoked the “national interest” provision in its quest for housing, saying it needs to provide shelter for officers assigned to its space division in El Segundo.

Under the conceptual agreement, the Air Force would split the housing between the two parks--90 homes at Bogdanovich and 80 at White Point. The plan would eliminate Bogdanovich park, but state park officials say the smaller development at White Point would leave 100 acres there that could still be developed as a state park.

In recent weeks, the two sides have reached an impasse on how White Point should be carved up and where the boundary between housing and the park should lie. Bernie Evans, chief deputy to Flores, said this week that he is optimistic that the two sides can work out their differences this month. But if the conceptual agreement collapses, the Air Force has said it will return to its original plan to build all the homes at White Point and leave Bogdanovich untouched.

“We would still prefer to build on one site,” said Larry Hannon, an Air Force spokesman, emphasizing that it was the city’s idea, not the Air Force’s, to throw Bogdanovich park into the negotiations.

But residents opposed to the agreement are not counting on a breakdown in negotiations between the city and Air Force to save their park. Opponents have collected hundreds of signatures on a petition opposing the agreement, written letters to various elected officials, and threatened to picket Flores’ home in the South Shores area of San Pedro.

‘Wrong Assumption’

“We believe she is doing what she is doing under the wrong assumption that not too many people are upset about this,” said Stan Denis, who lives near the park. “We want her to see that a significant portion of this community wants to save Bogdanovich park.”

Evans said that Flores is aware of opposition to the agreement, but said the councilwoman believes the agreement is the best deal the city could get with the Air Force. Protests notwithstanding, Flores is committed to the compromise, he said.

In an effort to dramatize their cause and to ensure an audience, protesters assembled at Bogdanovich park last Saturday--the first day of the American Youth Soccer Organization’s season. Bob Bryant, regional commissioner for the soccer group and an organizer of the protest, said about 1,300 children play at the park each season.

Flores has promised to relocate the soccer field, probably to an undeveloped portion of the county-owned Friendship Park on Western Avenue near 9th Street. The cost of the move, estimated to be $200,000, would be picked up by the city, and Flores has guaranteed that the Bogdanovich field would not be closed until the new field is open.

But Bryant and others say that is not enough.

“It will be a cold day in August when politicians who turn their backs on kids get reelected,” said Bryant, who accused Flores of forcing the children of San Pedro to bear the brunt of the settlement with the Air Force. “We are not talking only about the soccer field. We are talking about losing an entire park.”

Several community leagues play at the park, and the 65 members of the Mary Star varsity and junior varsity football teams practice there. The coach of the teams, which were working out at the the park during the demonstration, said the teams will be forced to practice outside San Pedro if the park is turned over to the Air Force.

“These are San Pedro kids mostly, and we want to stay in San Pedro,” said coach Bob Lorenzi. “I was born and raised here, and we don’t have enough for the kids. We don’t want to lose a park.”

Protest Spreads

As news of the park’s pending demise has spread through the community, opposition to the agreement with the Air Force has grown to include more than sports teams. Some residents who live near the park joined the protest last weekend, and in interviews this week representatives from Star-Kist, the local Yugoslavian community and the Bogdanovich family called on the city to reconsider the decision.

“It has been very important to us because we don’t have that many things around here named after Yugoslavs,” said Gojko Spralja, president of the Yugoslav American Club of San Pedro, which was founded by Martin Bogdanovich 60 years ago. “Now they are going to take it from us.”

Regis Zebroski, a vice president and spokesman for Star-Kist, which has a cannery in San Pedro, called the park agreement a “real shame” and asked the city to “seriously reconsider” it.

“It is unfortunate that this park, in recognizing the founder of Star-Kist and the Bogdanovich family in general, would be considered for this,” Zebroski said. “On a general note, we would hate to see any recreational facilities torn down. Many of our employees live in the San Pedro community.”

Family Tribute

Martin Bogdanovich II, the Star-Kist founder’s grandson and a vice president at the company, said the family was honored when the city dedicated the park to his grandfather three years ago. He said the family prefers that the park remain as a tribute.

“It was established for a worthwhile purpose and that purpose certainly has not changed,” he said. “It is a shame really that there has to be a conflict between government needs and the needs of our young people.”

Mary Bogdanovich Dexter, one of the elder Martin Bogdanovich’s six daughters, characterized the agreement with the Air Force as an injustice to her father and said she will fight it.

“I worked so damn hard for it,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Rancho Mirage. “My father was really a pioneer. He helped develop Los Angeles harbor. I don’t think this is fair.”

‘He Was Well Loved’

Joseph Zaninovich, the elder Bogdanovich’s personal secretary at the time of his death and now vice president of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners, said he has not taken a position on the agreement with the Air Force. But he said that if the park is lost, he will propose that the city find another location to honor his former employer and close friend.

“He was well loved, and he was the father of the (tuna) industry here,” Zaninovich said. “I only hope that if there is another site, it will be named after Mr. Bogdanovich.”

Evans, Flores’ deputy, said the councilwoman is committed to finding something else in San Pedro to carry the Bogdanovich name if the park is lost. He said the councilwoman understands why some residents want to save the park, but he cautioned that the community could be the big loser if the agreement with Air Force falls through.

Evans said that without the agreement, the Air Force may attempt to regain control of all three parks it once owned--Bogdanovich, White Point and Angels Gate. Deeds to all three parks contain the “national interest” provision that permits the military to reclaim the land. Under the conceptual agreement, the Air Force would give up its rights to reclaim the rest of White Point.

Could Lose All of Them

“Although giving up Bogdanovich is not the most desirable solution, given the circumstances it is the best solution,” Evans said. “If there is no agreement, and the military maintains a hold on all three properties, there is a real chance of losing all three of them eventually.”

Evans said Flores has favored sparing White Point over Bogdanovich because state parks officials have assured her that development of White Point as a state park is a top priority for the Department of Parks and Recreation. White Point is located on coastal bluffs above Paseo del Mar, east of Western Avenue, and is one of the few remaining undeveloped shoreline properties in urban Southern California that is geologically stable enough to permit the development of a large recreational park, state officials said.

But to parents like Cookie Allred, the most pressing issue is not developing a large state park with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, but providing parkland for the community’s children.

“Our children need to have space to play,” said Allred, a mother of five, three of whom play soccer at Bogdanovich. “I think we should have Air Force housing, too, but we have already spent a half-million to fix up this park. There are not that many open spaces left.”