No sooner had major league baseball and the Dodgers announced Tuesday a first-of-its-kind, $10-million sports academy for at-risk youth than Lake View Terrace neighbors of the project's site in the Hansen Dam Recreation Area raised objections.
Some area residents are not sold on the multimillion-dollar Youth Baseball Academy, questioning how at-risk youth in Los Angeles will be identified and selected to attend the facility and fearing the criteria will be exclusionary.
In partnership with the Dodgers and the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department, major league baseball is committing $3 million to build the complex on 21 acres, and $1 million per year to help operate it.
The rest of the funds are being provided by city, state and federal governments, officials said.
"We are using public money for a private entity," said Nancy Snider, president of a homeowners association in the area and member of a community coalition that includes two other homeowners associations and two citizens groups. "Anything built with taxpayers' money should be open to all kids."
Snider is concerned the academy will serve only youngsters with athletic ability and become "another training camp for Dodger players."
Kathy Delson, another community member, said people in the neighborhood are not opposed to children having recreational facilities. They just wonder about the wisdom of the project.
"It should accommodate more children in the area," Delson said. "Most people think it's a positive thing for the kids, but public funds should be used for the common good.
"Maybe we should build more satellite locations that are community-based or [use the funds] in fixing up our parks, many of which are in disarray."
Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar), who represents the area where Hansen Dam is situated, said the academy would not be closed to youngsters who don't fit the at-risk criteria.
"Technically speaking, I don't think major league baseball is going to turn anyone down," Cardenas said. "But the availability will be on a priority basis. . . . The purpose, the intent and the follow-through will be on affecting the lives of low-income children."
The facility will feature two baseball fields, two softball fields and a 20,000-square-foot clubhouse containing lockers, two classrooms, a weightlifting room, a training room and a library.
