Sports complex a coup for Surf City

As the founder of Save Our Kids, the major force behind the

development of the sports complex, I congratulate the many

individuals and city officials that helped this happen. This is an

investment in the future of our community and its children.

With the opening of the sports complex, adult leagues now using

Worthy, Greer, and Murdy parks, Edison Community Center and Golden

West College can be moved to Central Park, opening those regional

areas to youth leagues. Each of these parks are already lighted,

thereby giving the youths in the areas access to more field time year

round without the addition of lights that can impact neighborhoods.

This is a win, win and win.

It is true that the original estimate for the facility was $1.5

million. The plan was to put four softball, four soccer and two

roller hockey rinks on land that did not need mitigation. Subsequent

to that voter approval, the city concluded that mitigation would be

needed at sometime in the future and it was best to do it before

anything was built. The cost of the mitigation and the city’s

administrative cost was about $14 million. The number of fields was

doubled in size to allow for larger leagues, tournaments and other

revenue generating activities. Cost of the fields and amenities was

about $3.5 million, a little over twice the original estimate for

twice the size.

Now to those that think spending $14 million to claim 45 acres of

prime real estate is excessive, they haven’t bought any land

recently. This is a bargain even if the facility doesn’t cover all of

its cost itself.

Isn’t it interesting that a facility for kids should be “required”

to pay for itself, while senior centers, libraries, and parks in

general to mention a few are not.

It seems like yesterday that the city was in a heavy debate about

how to curb the damage done by skateboarders to park benches, school

property etc., damage that was costing the city well over $70,000 per

year to repair. Myopic solutions were strong arm tactics: tickets,

police action, arrests, and the like. The proactive creative solution

was to build skateboard parks and give the kids a place to do their

thing. These facilities paid for themselves without ever charging a

dime to use them.

I thank God Huntington Beach’s council majority wasn’t myopic.

If you want a high quality of life in the city, investing in our

youth is the smart thing to do.

* CHUCK BEAUREGARD is the chairman of Save Our Kids in Huntington

Beach. To contribute to “Sounding Off” e-mail us at

hbindy@latimes.com or fax us at (714) 965-7174.