Roots Run Deep in Chavez Ravine

When I was an impressionable high school senior I looked down incredulously into a man-made pit in Chavez Ravine, five miles from where I lived in Highland Park. The memory is vivid and lasting, and as a result, I have more than a passing attachment to Dodger Stadium, the baseball park that emerged from that hole.

News Corp., the owner of the Dodgers, wants to sell the team and has several bids for it. One offer is said to include some creative urban redevelopment plans that have led to speculation that Dodger Stadium may fall to the wrecking ball. If it didn’t involve a longtime love affair, I would probably agree with the concept of a new stadium near Staples Center. However, the concept is sacrilegious for me.

My history is wrapped up in that real estate north of downtown. My understanding of who and what I am started with Furillo, Robinson, Hodges, Snider, Peewee and Junior -- not to mention, Koufax, Drysdale and Wills. The Dodgers and I go back to 1953, even if the link was through radio broadcasts of re-created games heard on hot summer nights.

Numbers-crunchers will tell us how many millions of dollars would be needed to rehabilitate the 40-year-old stadium. Preserving the memories from eight World Series would be worth whatever it is.

There was a time just before the dot-com mania and stock market bubble turned our economy on its head that the Dodgers and the ballpark were fixtures in the L.A. community. The Dodger organization was one of several local business institutions with historical ties to the city and the surrounding communities. The Dodger complex was not just another piece of valuable real estate. We were talking about hallowed ground.

Redevelopment in any major city’s core is inherently political, and for that I am thankful in this case. Local political correctness should support preserving Dodger Stadium because it was politics that ordained its unique location -- close to but not in the central city, with the surroundings of a large urban park.

Others say a move by the Dodgers could open the property for development as a vast urban park, although you could argue that Elysian Park already provides just that.

I say keep the Dodgers and their ballpark where they are, but incorporate some of the development and parkland ideas for the property.

Redevelopment could include multilevel parking structures, with a transportation link from the Gold Line; commercial and residential space; and even a hotel-entertainment complex. Some of the parking lot land could be dedicated to greenbelts. The tree-huggers, real estate barons, politicos and baseball purists could all get something in the deal. Maybe the O’Malley family will put together a group of investors and buy back their wayward team.