Westchester : Park May Get Reprieve
Carl E. Nielsen Youth Park, threatened by expansion plans of Los Angeles International Airport, may be saved for the time being.
Frances Stronks, president of the foundation that leases the park, said the airport staff has recommended renewing the lease for two or three years. The airport board of commissioners is expected to decide about the new lease at its meeting Wednesday, Stronks said.
Nielsen Park is in Westchester between Will Rogers Street and LAX Parking Lot D. Airport officials had said earlier that they did not intend to renew the foundation’s five-year lease, which expires in early 1992, because they needed the land for additional parking.
The LAX officials tentatively offered the foundation use of a similar-sized tract foundation about two miles to the west in Playa del Rey, but foundation officials objected, pointing out that they had invested about $250,000 in athletic fields and other facilities at Nielsen Park.
The foundation has leased the eight-acre park free of charge for 15 years. It serves about 2,000 young baseball and soccer players from Westchester, Playa del Rey, Inglewood and Ladera Heights.
Stronks said that she is pleased with the airport’s apparent turnaround but that she and other park organizers want a long-term commitment.
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