Costa Mesa’s fields of broken dreams

Mark Gleason

I am compelled to comment on the article in the Tuesday issue of the

Pilot (“Coaches dream of improved use”) on the joint-use agreement.

The article on the agreement is interesting in that it shows how

clueless most of the people in a position to do something about this

really are.

All the discussion is about control, none about who’s actually

responsible for maintaining the facilities and the deplorable

conditions our kids are supposed to play high school sports. The

various bureaucrats who attempt to defend this agreement obviously

have not looked at the grounds at Estancia High School, Costa Mesa

High School, Parsons Field, Davis Elementary School or any of the

other schools. Only one school district or city person quoted in that

article stepped up and accepted any responsibility for the current

condition of the facilities and their use.

Parks and Recreation Commissioner Wendy Leece is at least willing

to look at modifying the agreement. All others simply defend the

status quo. The status quo is a portfolio of dilapidated and

dangerous facilities and is indefensible.

Several of those quoted speak authoritatively while they clearly

have no idea what they are talking about. Jaime Castellanos,

assistant superintendent of secondary education, says that the Costa

Mesa joint-use agreement is “conventional” and “not too different

from what other cities have.” That’s incorrect, and I would challenge

Castellanos to produce one other agreement from any other city in

Orange County that cedes full maintenance responsibility and control

of high school athletic facilities to a city.

I’ve looked extensively. The Costa Mesa agreement is unique in

several respects, most of which are detrimental to the welfare of our

student athletes and to the sanity of our coaches. You only have to

look as far as Newport Beach to find an agreement that is simpler and

works much better, simply because the responsibilities are clearly

delineated. Many of the facilities at Newport Harbor are not all that

great either, but at least we know who’s responsible.

Jana Ransom, city recreation manager, defends kicking a high

school coach off of a high school field at 5 p.m. during his season

of sport by saying “after 5 p.m. the fields are the city’s

responsibility.” What “responsibility” happens after 5 p.m. that

isn’t in place prior to 5 p.m.?

Why can’t the “ambassador” exercise enough rational thought to

ascertain that the coach has a far more vested interest in the

condition of the field than the city does? The city does nothing to

the fields except mow them (badly) and aerate some of them once a

year. Why won’t the city accept the “responsibility” for maintaining

the facilities in safe and playable condition? If the facilities were

actually halfway decent, the coaches would have less reason to

complain and the city would have a real reason to ask that coaches

leave when conditions may warrant extra care.

The current run-down condition of the facilities fully justifies

the coaches’ complaints.

The only thing the coaches can see the city, district and

joint-use agreement doing is hindering them while doing nothing to

actually care for the facilities for which Ransom claims

“responsibility.”

Parks and Recreation Commissioner Byron de Arakal is also wildly

wrong on a couple of other key points, clearly illustrating his

nearly complete lack of understanding of some of the most fundamental

issues. He contends that “High school teams are not favorites over

AYSO and AYSO is not favorites over high schools.” That is

unequivocally wrong. High school teams, during their season of sport,

on school facilities, absolutely are “favorites” when it comes to the

use of their own facilities, whether it’s 4:30 or 5:30 p.m. The same

is true of AYSO on the fields which they reserve for their use during

their season. And if AYSO is not a “favorite,” why does the city

maintain the Farm, which is used almost exclusively by AYSO, in top

condition while letting the high school fields fall into complete

disrepair?

De Arakal’s most fundamental misunderstanding, though, is that he

believes that Costa Mesa’s problem “boils down to a lack of fields.”

Byron de Arakal ought to get out once in a while and look around.

There are actually plenty of fields, it’s just that so many of them

have been rendered unsafe and unplayable by the city’s and school

district’s mutual lack of responsibility that no one even wants to

use them. There’s a great location at Parsons Field, on top of the

bluff with palm trees and ocean breezes -- with one of the

worst-maintained fields ever seen. There’s about 20 acres at Estancia

that could be one of the finest locations in Orange County, but

they’re rutted, weedy and dangerous. The field at Davis school is a

nice tucked-away location that’s mostly dirt patches and weeds.

There’s a long list of others.

What de Arakal and most others fail to recognize is that they have

created and are supporting a policy that perpetuates the downward

spiral of these facilities. By letting these facilities deteriorate

and adding oppressive control, they are chasing away a key source of

funding that could be used to actually maintain them. It is a fact

that several soccer tournaments have left the city and gone to Irvine

and Tustin. They have taken not only the use fees, but the many

hundreds of parents who spend money in restaurants and hotels in

Costa Mesa. Club soccer teams, which could commit to long-term use

agreements that would generate a reliable and forecast-able revenue

stream have also left.

“If you build it, they will come” is as true as ever. But so is

the converse: “If you let it go, they will leave.” Those who can

leave have left, taking their money with them. The high school

student athletes have no such option, so they get to risk injury

every time they step on one of these disgraceful fields.

Shame on all of these people for abdicating their responsibility

to provide a safe and decent place for the high school athletes,

youth sports participants, and all of the other users of the public

facilities. This will be a key election-year issue for a motivated

and vocal constituency of parents, none of whom are buying these

brush-offs from the people who are supposedly “responsible.”

* MARK GLEASON is a resident of Costa Mesa and president of the

girls soccer boosters at Estancia High School.