A brush-off in Verdugo Park

Kudos to parks services officials for the brush-clearing this year at Verdugo Park.

It is great to be able to see the trees through the forest. And my dog likes it, too!

James Diffley

Glendale

Half a loaf better than no loaf?

As a kid growing up in Boyle Heights, there were no parks nearby, so we improvised and made the city street a football field and my youngest cousin the “football.”

As a teenager in Glendale, my sister and I played tennis in the street. The city manhole was the center of our oversized makeshift tennis court, the street curbs were out of bounds and the two nearby telephone poles were the back court.

Recently, I visited Adams Square Park in South Glendale and was delighted to see kids under the age of 13 playing soccer in an area no bigger than a postage stamp. Nearby on the park benches were the parents and grandparents of these youngsters — or were they just kids from the neighborhood who were looking for green space to play their favorite sport unsupervised by city officials?

I became nostalgic recalling the years as a kid growing up when we had no regulated football fields or tennis courts. What we had was imagination — something that the city Parks, Recreation & Community Services Commission is sadly lacking today (“Soccer field plans stall,” Aug. 17).

Officials stated the fields would not be regulation-size based upon a survey they took from city sports teams and, of course, there was always the money issue. But, what officials didn’t do is ask the kids if playing soccer on non-regulation-size fields really matters, as long as there was a large area of grass.

The kids would make up their own rules and regulations, as we did growing up.

Why not call the new playing fields practice fields, or pony-league fields, rather than regulation-size fields? I am sure the kids from Adams Square and throughout South Glendale would be content with a half a loaf, rather than no loaf at all.

Once the new practice fields are in place, just watch the parents and grandparents walking over from the Adult Recreation Center getting involved with the kids playing soccer. They might, in time, help organize some teams rather than spending their time watching TV, playing cards, dominos, backgammon, etc. and becoming more involved with the younger generation.

Mike Mohill

Glendale