Little League Park Stirs Big League Fight : Development: Proponents want to build baseball diamond in Studio City park. Opponents say the site should remain open space.

A proposal to put a Little League field in a Studio City park is striking out with some residents who want the area developed as open space.

But proponents of adding a baseball diamond to South Weddington Park said they will keep trying to convince residents that the field would be an asset to the community.

At issue is the fate of a four-acre portion of South Weddington Park, which is a vacant, dusty lot near Valleyheart Drive and the Hollywood Freeway. Thursday night, about 40 residents attended a meeting sponsored by Councilman John Ferraro to discuss how to develop the land, but no consensus was reached.

“Baseball is the greatest developer of kids in the United States,” said Guy Weddington McCreary, whose family donated part of the 12-acre park to the city of Los Angeles.

“Everybody agrees baseball is great for kids, but there’s not enough green space as it is,” countered Ray Aleman, a Studio City resident. “And gangs tend to congregate in the bleachers near the field that is already in the park.”

Mary Presby, one of Ferraro’s deputies, said a second meeting will be held in January. “It may take us a year or more, but I’m really optimistic we can reach a consensus,” Presby said.

Tempers were hot at the meeting. Apparently exasperated after listening to Little League proponents call the undeveloped land an eyesore, one woman shouted: “Don’t make it seem like we live in a slum!”

Winona Hagan, 78, whose home borders the park, said Little League brings “congestion, noise, a lack of parking and hanky-panky.”

John Whitman, president of Toluca Little League, said the league works hard to clean and maintain the three fields it uses, including one in South Weddington Park. He said the organization, one of about 12 nonprofit leagues in the San Fernando Valley, has had to turn away boys and girls this year because of a shortage of places to play.

The field would cost $50,000 to $70,000 to build, said Alonzo Carmichael, a planning officer for the city Department of Recreation and Parks. Developing the vacant land as open space, with grass, trees and a sprinkler system, would cost about $140,000, he said. Residents probably will have to raise the money to pay for either project because the city does not have the funds, he said.

“We would do our darndest to come up with the money--we want the field that much,” said Frank Miceli, a league vice president.