Girls’ League Offered Use of Ball Fields

A future home for the West Valley Girls’ Softball League appeared attainable Wednesday night after a league from Encino offered to share fields with the girls.

“Encino is hereby offering a home to West Valley,” said Rob Glushon, of the Encino Little League. “Come to our fields and share the cost of maintaining them.”

Glushon made the offer, which was followed by a similar offer from Granada Hills Little League to also share its fields with another league, before a crowd of more than 200 that had gathered during a public hearing at the Tarzana Recreation Center.

Steven L. Soboroff, president of the Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners, scheduled the hearing last month after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the West Valley Girls Softball League.

The lawsuit, which has gained national attention, accuses the city of discriminating against girls by relegating the league’s teams to shabby fields while reserving premiere diamonds for boys.

Assistant City Atty. Mark Brown said he would need to study any offer and determine whether it is acceptable to the West Valley Girls Softball League.

If so, he said, he would present it to the ACLU.

“I’d love to solve the lawsuit that way,” he said.

But Dave Berman, president of the West Valley league said that “what we’re after are fields of our own. That’s not what we’ve heard about tonight.”

ACLU staff attorney Rocio Cordoba said she was encouraged by the support she heard Wednesday night but it would be premature to respond to any particular offer and that there are other issues that must be addressed.

“The fundamental issue is whether the city’s permit process is conducted on an equal basis.”

According to Soboroff, the problem plaguing the San Fernando Valley isn’t a shortage of playing fields, but rather the inefficient use of existing ones.

Soboroff, who is also a senior advisor to Mayor Richard Riordan, said he has discovered that many city playing fields are underused.

“I don’t feel we’re field poor, we’re efficiency poor,” Soboroff said in an earlier interview. “You have some areas that have 250 boys and girls per a field and others with only 40 per a field.”

In fact, Soboroff said, there are only two fields in the Valley being used by 250 children apiece--one in Studio City and the other in Woodland Hills. As many as 30 other fields, all used by various teams, range from 150 youths per field to none at all.

Mason Park in Chatsworth, for example, has two ball fields used by only 76 boys and girls. Four fields at Granada Hills Recreation Center are used by only 180 kids.

As a result, Soboroff is hoping to make better use of all the fields. He acknowledged that many of the fields need improvement and he has already received a wish list for improvements on 27 fields, which he hopes to fund with help from the private sector.

Soboroff has backed away from an earlier suggestion that private leagues share their fields with other teams and is instead calling on those leagues to share their expertise on such matters as field maintenance and fund-raising with younger city-operated leagues.

Other measures proposed by Soboroff include developing new fields on land owned by the Department of Water and Power and the Army Corps of Engineers; entering into joint-use agreements with public schools, and fostering public-private partnerships that might help absorb the costs of maintaining the fields.

Earlier in the day, Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Feuer introduced a motion directing the Department of Recreation and Parks to report within 30 days on its policies, assuring that girls have equal opportunity at city sports facilities.

Feuer also said in a prepared statement that the city and the Los Angeles Unified School District reached an agreement last week that will allow school facilities to remain open for public recreation and sports activities after hours and on weekends.