No Field, Just Dreams

When it comes to scoring opportunities for girls in sports, the West Valley Girls Softball team is a winner. Its 1998 federal lawsuit against the city prodded the Recreation and Parks Department to make quality sports programs available to boys and girls.

Faced with studies showing boys outnumbered girls in city sports programs 4 to 1, the city agreed in a settlement package to hold girls sports clinics, assign more women to administer sports programs and recruit female athletes as mentors. Last year 4,144 more girls were involved in city-run sports programs than the year before, a 39% increase.

There’s only one problem: The west San Fernando Valley girls team still doesn’t have a field to play on.

The team’s frustration at shuttling from field to shabby field--and at the city’s indifference to its complaints--prompted the suit in the first place. Boys leagues, after all, play on permanent, well-tended home ballparks.

The American Civil Liberties Union expanded the suit to cover girls citywide. And girls citywide have benefited from the settlement’s resoundingly successful “Raise the Bar” campaign.

But the settlement also called for finding the West Valley Girls Softball Team a ballpark. Yet six weeks into the season, the girls are doing what they’ve always done--schlepping from field to shabby field.

Failure to find a field could scuttle the settlement--hailed nationwide--and force the city to go to trial. That’s more than stupid. It’s wrong.