Angry words and even shouting came from the audience on January 26, as the Park Advisory Board listened to public comments on the new 7-ft. metal fence that encircles the Field of Dreams at the Palisades Recreation Center. Opponents and supporters weighed in about the 7-ft. fence that was installed in late December to stem vandalism, but also helps prevent the use of the field as a de facto (and illegal) dog park. Last June, after L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks officials learned they couldn’t use Prop. K funds to install the $10,000 protective fence, they came to the Palisades Community Center Committee (PCCC), and the committee agreed to fund it. (The PCCC raised a $1 million from local residents and organizations for the renovation of the fields in 2003, and continues to raise funds to pay the annual $50,000 maintenance costs.) Although Palisades Park Director Erich Haas asked that respect be shown to each speaker at last Wednesday’s quarterly meeting, that was not always the case. In accordance with the Brown Act, Park Advisory Board members were not allowed to answer questions or enter a discussion during the public comment period. This elicited angry outbursts from some of the 60 people present who, unfamiliar with Brown Act guidelines, claimed there was no transparency on the board’s part.   ’I would like to discuss the privatization of the park,’ said the first speaker, Jon Tower. ‘The hours the field is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and public parks are open from dusk to dawn. You have made it impossible for parents to exercise their kids.’   Resident Diana Baron echoed his sentiment, saying ‘I can no longer take my nephew there [the ballfields] before work. I’m appalled.’   Lisa Rosenbaum warned that the installation of the fence privatizes the park. ‘You’re going to have a lawsuit and then taxpayers will have to pay for it,’ she said.   Cabell Smith expressed the feelings of many, who felt that they were not consulted before the installation of the fence. Additionally, she was upset about an earlier discussion on the PAB agenda about the possibility of also installing security cameras.   Greg Victoroff complained that the park was being used almost exclusively by one group, the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association (which has been offering the sport to youngsters from January to June for more than 50 years). ‘Do not insult our intelligence by telling us the fence is to protect against vandals,’ Victoroff said. ‘You are using the newspaper to deceive the community. You have the Palisadian-Post in your pocket.’ (The Post’s headline on January 20 read, ‘Rec Center Fence Installed to Curb Vandalism & Dogs.’)   Before the meeting, a flyer was available to everyone present, listing the various organizations that use the field, including AYSO soccer, Palisades High softball, L.A. Lacrosse, the YMCA, Movies in the Park, adult softball leagues, travel soccer and baseball teams, the PPBA, park flag football, T-ball and 5-pitch baseball, as well as P.E. classes for three nearby private schools, Seven Arrows, Village and Corpus Christi. According to the Palisades Community Center Committee (which has representatives on the Park Advisory Board), the PPBA has a permit for only 10 percent of the hours that the park is open. AYSO coach Bill Holbrow thanked the PCCC for maintaining the fields and said the fence was great for keeping the balls in play. He then challenged members of the audience to face the underlying issue. ‘If we’re going to have an honest discussion, you’ll have to say that you’re using the field as a dog run in the morning; that is the majority of who is using the field before 9 a.m.,’ Holbrow said. ‘Only when we’re honest can we resolve this.’ Rich McGeah, who plays adult softball at the park, and whose children play park football and baseball, added, ‘I know most of the dog owners pick up the remnants, but there is still some, the ball goes through it, the kids pick it up, it gets on their hands and then they get sick.’ After the public comments, Laura Island, Senior Recreation Director II for the Shoreline District in the Department of Recreation and Parks, said, ‘I appreciate the passion I hear tonight, but the fence is not coming down.’ After the meeting, PAB member Haldis Toppel noted that the real issue was not the fence, but rather, ‘We need a dog park.’ Mike Skinner, chairman of the PCCC, speculated that many of the outraged people in the audience were dog owners who were angry that they can no longer run their dog(s) off leash early every morning before park staff arrive. ‘Not one of them got up to defend the indefensible, since we all know that off-leash dogs are illegal in city parks, so their whole focus was how the community will suffer because the fields are locked until the park opens at 9 a.m.,’ Skinner said.
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