SIMONIAN LITTLE LEAGUE FIELDS

More info from the Anchorage Daily News .

Following are copies of articles and opinion pieces in the Anchorage Daily News that relate to the Simonian ballfields issue. The Anchorage Daily News has been very generous with its coverage of the issue.

To read some letters to the editor on this issue, click here.

Long-awaited ball fields decision goes to voters
ASSEMBLY: April ballot will include bond proposal for Lore Road land.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: February 27, 2002)

Voters will choose in April whether the Simonian Little League's new home should be on property near Lore Road, the Assembly decided Tuesday.

The Assembly's 10-0 vote means voters can decide during the municipal election April 2 if the city should issue $1.6 million in bonds to buy 8.5 acres of land. The 400-player league would use that and nearby city land for baseball diamonds.

The Lore Road site went through after a proposal to allow ball fields in Far North Bicentennial Park failed in a 3-8 vote. Assembly members Dick Traini, Dan Sullivan and Dan Kendall voted to change the city's master plan for the park, which would have allowed the fields.

Assemblyman Dan Kendall left the room during the vote. He later said his gesture was a protest of what he considers inadequate space at the Lore Road site.

Putting the fields in 25 wooded acres in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park was at the heart of the debate over the Little League's new home. Park lovers saw the use of even a small portion of what city officials say is a 3,600-acre-plus park as another effort to chip away at a city treasure.

Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch, who originally favored the Bicentennial Park site, said he doesn't intend to veto the Lore Road bond proposal. It is the best possible option to get the Little League fields by this summer, given the political reality that the Assembly wouldn't allow ball fields at Bicentennial Park, he said.

The decision brings to an end months of Assembly debate that involved three nights of public comments and nearly three years of searching by the Little League. The league wants the new fields by this summer so they will be ready to use by 2004, when it has to leave its current home.

Dave Manzer, head of the site selection for the Simonian league, said he wasn't sure whether the league would support the Lore Road bond. He said it was better than nothing, but the league needed at least 13 acres for all four fields it wants to build.

Also Tuesday, Assemblywoman Janice Shamberg introduced a resolution asking the mayor to look at building the ball fields at Ruth Arcand Park. A public hearing was set for the resolution on April 9, after the city election. Shamberg has said the proposal would be an alternative if voters reject the Lore Road site.

Parks Chief Jim Posey said he worried the Ruth Arcand site would have wetlands problems, and would receive complaints from horse riders who use the Ruth Arcand park now. Some supporters of the proposal say wetlands aren't a problem.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907 257-4310.

Wuerch offers ball field compromise
LORE ROAD: Assembly members express interest in mayor's idea.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: February 21, 2002)

Mayor George Wuerch is offering a new way to find the Simonian Little League a home that has caught the interest of some previously critical Assembly members and could free the Assembly from one of its most contentious debates in years.

Wuerch's proposal would reduce the cost of a bond plan that would put the fields outside Far North Bicentennial Park and drops his insistence that the league's baseball fields be allowed in Far North Bicentennial Park if the bond fails.

At Tuesday's Assembly meeting, the mayor plans to propose reducing the cost of a bond proposal to build the fields near Lore Road from $4.5 million to $1.6 million. He also said he will negotiate whether to amend the Bicentennial Park plan to allow baseball fields if the bond fails.

The new Lore Road proposal would require 8.5 acres, down from 18.6 acres, and would have the city build the fields rather than buy them completed, Wuerch said.

Wuerch said he is cutting a deal because it is important to find a solution for the league by its deadline this summer, and last week's Assembly action suggests there aren't the six votes necessary to amend the Bicentennial Park plan to allow ball fields.

On Feb. 12, the Assembly voted 8-3 for a resolution telling Wuerch to look outside the park for ball fields, but it couldn't muster the votes necessary to override the mayor's instant veto.

Assemblyman Allan Tesche, who sponsored the Assembly resolution, said he's intrigued by the mayor's latest proposal. He said he supported the idea when the mayor explained it recently, but the idea had since changed. He said he will discuss the new version in good faith.

One possible sticking point: keeping Bicentennial Park as part of the negotiations. Wuerch said he will compromise on his position to amend the park plan if Assembly members will help get the bond passed.

On Feb. 12, the Assembly discussed alternatives like building the fields at Ruth Arcand park, a proposal Wuerch said could conflict with other users of that park.

Janice Shamberg was one Assembly member who suggested Ruth Arcand as an option last week. On Wednesday, Shamberg wasn't ready to push for the mayor's proposal. She hadn't talked to him yet about it. But she said she wouldn't oppose it, and wouldn't advocate for the Ruth Arcand site instead.

She said she plans to introduce a resolution at Tuesday's Assembly meeting asking the mayor to pursue ball fields at Ruth Arcand Park if voters reject the Lore Road option.

"I just want the kids to have fields," she said. "I want this to be over with."

Some kind of contingency plan is important, said Dan Rosenberg, a spokesman for Friends of Bicentennial Park. He said he would support the Lore Road bond, but the city should consider trading land for the league's fields if voters don't approve the bond. The use of Bicentennial Park should be off the table, he said.

Wuerch had supported building the fields on 25 acres of wooded land in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park. Park advocates worry that would continue a pattern of chipping away at the park.

David Manzer, the head of site selection for the Simonian league, said he'd like to see the ball fields on 13.5 acres at Lore Road, including nearby city land and protecting an existing soccer field on the nearby land. He conceded the Bicentennial Park site was politically impossible now.

The Simonian Little League is trying to find fields this summer so it can plant grass and be ready to play by 2004, when it will have to leave its current home. Builder Art Simonian sold the land near Lake Otis Parkway where the league plays.

Assemblyman Dan Sullivan, a frequent Wuerch ally, said he had thought of an idea like the mayor's. He said he didn't understand the big price tag on the earlier Lore Road proposal.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907 257-4310.

NOTEBOOK
(Anchorage Daily News Opinion published February 16, 2002)

No conspiracy

The issue of where to build fields for the Simonian Little League has accumulated enough excess baggage to stuff a team bus. So let's lighten the load.

It's been darkly suggested that Mayor George Wuerch's support for the 25-acre Bicentennial Park site is driven by a hidden agenda of park development and the extension of Bragaw Street to the nether regions of the Hillside. I thought I'd put in a call ask the mayor directly.

Here's what he said: One, he's made no secret of his support for a main north-south road on the east side of Anchorage, a Bragaw extension being the most likely solution.

Two, the mayor clearly states his view that Far North Bicentennial was never intended to be a wilderness park, but a multiuse park. He sees its future full of ball fields, ski, hiking and equestrian trails, playgrounds, picnic areas and plenty of access.

That's anathema to those who want the park kept as is. But it's not conspiracy.

The Bragaw issue would be hard-fought on its merits; ball fields and a community park in the southwest corner of Bicentennial won't tilt the issue either way. And on Friday the mayor said there's no money for his vision of a more traditional urban park at Far North Bicentennial.

At any rate, "we're not gonna build condominiums, we're not gonna cut down trees to sell off timber," he said.

Actually the mayor plans to take another look at the alternative Lore Road site with Assembly members Allan Tesche and Cheryl Clementson on Monday morning. Devious plot? Forget it. Play ball.

-- Frank Gerjevic

(Web editor's note: The documents transfering the parkland to the city and subsequent plans clearly point to a different future for the park than the Mayor envisions.)

Anchorage Daily News Editorial
(Published February 11, 2002)

Simonian saga: Little League fields shouldn't be this hard

The dispute over whether to build Simonian Little League fields in Far North Bicentennial Park has generated enough bad blood to fuel a season of bench-clearing brawls.

Enough.

The Anchorage Assembly should decide Tuesday to amend the park plan to build the fields in the southwest corner of the park, include a pocket neighborhood park and settle the issue.

Assemblyman Allan Tesche has made a good-faith attempt at an alternative. He has drafted a resolution that would keep the fields out of the park but pledge the city to swap or otherwise acquire land to meet the league's needs and have fields ready for play by the 2004 season. His draft includes six alternative sites and offers of interest in a land swap by both JL Properties and Art Simonian.

Some alternatives look logical and attractive -- especially Mr. Simonian's interest in a swap for up to 28 acres he owns right next to the current Simonian fields.

But the problem here is that the resolution is a promise, not a done deal that provides the fields. It gives the mayor marching orders but can't guarantee what private parties will do or whether the city or private parties will balk at terms. It's too late.

The city already owns the parkland and has about $640,000 in available funds to start the project, estimated to cost $1.5 million. Mr. Tesche's call for a significant portion of the cost to be borne by the league is a good one and should apply to the park site.

We just can't buy the notion that building ball fields inevitably spells the park's demise. Ball fields are not wilderness. But they are green, open spaces, not a blight. Build good fields and a small community park in this corner. Take advantage of the woods surrounding it, and give the neighbors a decent screen.

Sure, this corner of the park isn't the only possible place for the fields. But so far, it's the best bet.

Back to the bad blood for a moment. This issue has become so divisive because it has conjured up political divisions, passions and prejudices well beyond the issue on paper. Now we have a split among outdoor recreation lovers that ill serves everyone. Skiers vs. ballplayers? My kids vs. your kids? This is getting out of hand.

There are people who see devious motives: Does the mayor see these fields as his crowbar to pry open the park to further development? Will those who want no change in the park use their political clout, the courts or the initiative process to keep the ball fields out?

If the answer is yes on both counts, then we'll all tackle those issues when they arise. Would-be developers will face a high bar in changing the park, as the Simonians have faced for about two years. And park preservationists will find that master plans adopted in years gone by are not written in stone -- nor should they be.

The southwest corner of Far North Bicentennial Park can stand the sound of line drives and the sight of green outfields. We'll still be able to hear bird song, meet a bear and bike on dirt trails just past the outfield.

The Assembly should be a good umpire and call it that way.

Manzer learns doing a good thing isn't that easy in Anchorage
By Mike Doogan
Daily News Columnist
(Published: February 10, 2002)

David Manzer walked into the Bolero Cafe and Bakery on Lake Otis carrying two banker's boxes.

"This," he said, setting them on the floor, "is what it takes."

The paperwork in the boxes, plus nearly three years of time and effort, is what he has put into a so far unsuccessful attempt to get new baseball fields for the Simonian Little League.

The parents of the 400 Little Leaguers want to build the fields in a 25-acre corner of the 4,000-plus acre Far North Bicentennial Park. The plan is opposed by the usual nimbys, but what has really stymied it is the opposition of people calling themselves environmentalists. They claim the park shouldn't be developed for any reason.

So environmentalists have progressed from fighting corporate America over the pollution of rivers and the indiscriminate use of pesticides to opposing Little League baseball fields? There's a noble cause. They must be puffed up with pride as they glide over the park's groomed ski trails, the sort of trails all true wilderness contains.

Ironically, Manzer is himself a lover of wilderness. He first came to Alaska as a college student to work in Denali National Park. He had been born and raised in southern Arizona, and "I always wanted to come to someplace where there were trees and lakes." His experience impressed him enough that "after I graduated I packed up my truck and came right up," he said. "I basically showed up here with a tank of gas and a week's worth of food."

That was in 1977. For the next dozen or so years, Manzer lived what he calls "the Bush hippie lifestyle." He worked, at one time or another, as a house insulator, a waiter, a logger, a miner and a guy who climbed telecommunications towers on the North Slope "and all of this was to fund my driving passion, which was to spend time in the wilderness." Among his forays was wilderness racing, and he once set the record in the Hope to Homer race. He also built a cabin on the Nelchena River that his family uses today.

About the time he turned 35, he said, he got tired of life as a "rent-a-body" and decided to settle down in Anchorage. He married and started a life doing title searches and researching land status for clients. His wife, Victoria, is an accountant. They have two children: Adam, 9, and Samantha, 7.

Manzer's father had been a minor league pitcher in the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals organizations and "I played a lot of baseball when I was a kid." So when Adam got old enough for T-ball, "I knew I could coach." At a coaches' meeting he heard that the league's fields had been sold and that a new place to play must be found. He volunteered, figuring that his experience with land would be a plus. "Besides, I thought, how hard can this be? Ball fields for kids?"

He shook his head at his naivete.

The next three years are a nightmarish tale of bureaucracy and tangling with entrenched interests and people, like Doug Van Etten, now an Assemblyman, who know how to play the government game.

What would Manzer tell another ordinary citizen who was thinking about trying to do something involving city government?

He buried his head in his hands for a moment.

"I'd tell them they'd better really be prepared for a lot of sacrifice and a lot of frustration and great personal and professional cost," Manzer said. "And I'd tell them they'd better be prepared for a lot of games to be played. And I'm not talking about baseball."

Mike Doogan's opinion column appears each Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. His telephone number is 257-4350, and his e-mail address is mdoogan@adn.com.

(Website editor's note: For the uninitiated, Mike Doogan's job at the Daily News is to light fuses. His writings are often provocative, but should not be assumed to be pieces of balanced journalism.)

City ignores best ball field choices
By Walt Parker and Rita Hendrickson
(Published: February 8, 2002)

Ball fields were never intended in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park. That land, like much of the park, was intended to remain undeveloped except for a picnic area and playfield. This is clearly spelled out in the 1974 master plan and the 1985 updated master plan.

The burden of proof for amending the plan now falls to the mayor and the Simonian Little League. They must show that no alternative sites exist. Expediency has been their only argument. Had they sought reasonable solutions in line with community planning efforts, we would be building fields now, not debating location.

Instead, the administration and league rejected outright 32 of 33 sites presented in a recommendation report funded by the city and chose Bicentennial Park and only Bicentennial Park. Sites identified in the report as best for the community were rejected.

Now the mayor has proposed a $4.5 million bond to purchase land and build ball fields and a snack bar for the league on Lore Road. If the bond fails, the ball fields go in Bicentennial Park. But where is the money to pay for road upgrades, bike paths and ball field construction at Bicentennial Park? According to city officials, there is at best guess a $1.2 million shortfall. If the administration plans to use some source of hidden funds, couldn't that same money be used to pay for a cheaper solution outside of Bicentennial Park, without a new bond?

There are sites for ball fields that have no direct cost to the taxpayer, are not divisive and respect community planning efforts. Sites at Ruth Arcand Park, municipal land next to BLM, school land east of Service High, and private parcels next to the Little League's current site and on Lore Road can meet baseball's needs for four fields by 2004 at a cost equal to or less than the cost at the Bicentennial Park site.

Two of these city-owned sites, Ruth Arcand and Service High, could efficiently provide fields for both the School District and baseball. Unlike at the Bicentennial Park site, parking and utilities are available, roads are upgraded, and no plans need amending. No costly bonds are required.

The two private sites could be acquired through land trades and would fill neighborhood needs for a park. And as with most public-private partnerships, the Little League could be required to contribute to development. Why ask the taxpayers for a $4.5 million bond with no justification?

To save more taxpayer money, reduce the size. The Little League is asking for 20-25 acres for four fields. Jade Park on West Dimond has three baseball fields and parking on 10 acres. Four fields and parking will fit on 11.5 acres. For a few more acres a picnic area, soccer field and playground can be included.

The mayor is attempting to bypass community-planning processes and the public will. Changing the status of 25 acres is not a minor revision to the park plan. It's another step in a continual piecemeal process to desecrate a legacy that was intended for this community in perpetuity. And it comes with a large price to taxpayers.

The proposal to amend the park plan is nothing new. Other special interests wanted their own piece of the park but were directed to better sites. This is the only way to provide for, respect and plan for the needs of all citizens. There are solutions that can work for everyone, and they cost taxpayers less.

Walt Parker was state chair for the Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission when Campbell Tract was conveyed to the municipality and was on the Assembly when it adopted the 1974 Bicentennial Park Plan. Rita Hendrickson served as chair of the Alaska Bicentennial Commission, represented the public on the Interim Planning Committee for the Campbell Tract transfer process, served 8 1/2 years on the Parks and Recreation Commission and chaired the Citizens Advisory Committee for the 1985 master plan.

Wuerch backs vote to decide ball fields site
BOND PLAN: Ballot box would decide whether city buys 22 acres or uses park.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 19, 2002)

Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch said Friday he's encouraging a bond proposal on the April ballot that would pay for land for Little League fields, but he isn't sure he would support the measure at the ballot box.

The proposal would ask voters whether they back a bond plan of between $2.5 million and $4.5 million to buy 22 acres of land on Lore Road for the Simonian Little League. For months, the city has debated whether to build baseball fields for the league on about 25 acres in Far North Bicentennial Park.

The bond plan "gives citizens a clear and distinct choice," Wuerch said. "Do they want to take on new debt for a new area and new fields, or do they want to use the land they already have."

Wuerch said he wants the Assembly to guarantee the fields could be built in Bicentennial Park if voters reject the bonds.

The proposal gives Assembly members and interest groups something to chew on between now and Jan. 29, when the Assembly expects to vote on whether to amend Bicentennial Park's master plan to allow ball fields.

Wuerch and the Little League say time is running out to find a place for the 400-kid league. There's even less time for the Assembly to approve a bond that avoids razing woods in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park.

Wuerch said he encouraged Assembly members Dick Traini and Allan Tesche to work out a deal, but he wants the bond to be separate from the city's main $8.3 million parks bond proposal.

The parks bond, which the Assembly still must approve before it goes on the ballot, will help repair pools and an ice sheet at Ben Boeke arena. Wuerch said he would oppose the Lore Road bond if it looked like it could drag down the big parks bond.

JL Properties is a key to the deal. The developer offered to buy 22 acres of land off the Seward Highway on Lore Road for $2.55 million and sell it to the city, or to buy the land and develop baseball fields for about $4.5 million, then sell it to the city.

Assemblyman Doug Van Etten said he didn't like the idea of allowing baseball fields in Bicentennial Park as an automatic fallback if the Lore Road bond fails.

Wuerch "can't have it both ways," Van Etten said.

Friends of Bicentennial Park vice president Dan Rosenberg said his group would support a bond, but wants it tied to the main parks bond and likes other alternatives -- like trading city land -- better.

"I can guarantee you we won't support something the mayor won't unequivocally support."

David Manzer, head of the Simonian Little League's site selection effort, says both sites are acceptable, but he has several of his own conditions. For instance, the Simonians want assurances park advocates won't try to stop the Bicentennial ball fields if the bond fails.

Time for negotiating is short. Assembly Chairman Dick Traini says it's time to get on with business and wants to bring the issue to a vote Jan. 29.

Wuerch wants the Assembly to amend the Bicentennial Park plan but supports revoking the plan if voters approve the baseball fields bond.

Wuerch is willing to introduce the bond proposal on Jan. 29. The Assembly could vote on the plan Feb. 12, the first day the Assembly can take up the bond after it is introduced and the last day the Assembly can vote to get the bond on the April ballot.

Traini said the bond proposal is worth exploring. It would ease concerns about developing Bicentennial Park, it would avoid noise near neighboring Zodiak Manor, and it would keep down traffic in the area near the park.

Traini was concerned about the cost to taxpayers. Turning the Lore Road land into a park would take it off the city's tax rolls and force other taxpayers to make up the difference. But assessor Marty McGee said in a city with a $16 billion tax base, the impact on the average taxpayer could be less than a penny a year.

Assemblywoman Fay Von Gemmingen said the bond idea sounds good on its face.

"It takes a difficult decision from the Assembly out of our hands and into voters' hands," she said.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com 907 257-4310.

Web Editor's note: Some comments in this article suggest Friends of Bicentennial Park played a role in this decision. A comment from Dan Rosenberg and Jim Barr follow. This was not published in the Anchorage Daily News.

January 19, 2002
Dear FOBP,

As you may have read in the paper, the Mayor announced Friday that he has proposed a stand-alone bond for land acquisition and ballfield construction for the Simonian Little League. We were not a party to the Mayor's proposal.

We support a win-win solution with a net gain in parkland in concert with good community planning. We do not support amending the FNBP plan and we will not support any bond proposal that holds the park as hostage. Until we know all the details, we will not take a position on any specific proposals, whether the Assembly's or Mayor's.   The Assembly is still considering other options. The Mayor also has other options, although, at best, he will not exercise those without substantial public and Assembly pressure.  The Little League is clearly confused about our organization. We are a grass roots organization committed to upholding the objectives that established FNBP. We will not (and cannot) commit to anything that interferes with citizen's rights to speak out and protect the park through legal means.

All this has to be worked out by January 29 when the Assembly votes. If you want a solution for ballfields without sacrificing FNBP, it is up to you to continue to let your thoughts be known to the Assembly and be present on January 29 to show your support of FNBP.

Sincerely
Dan Rosenberg and Jim Barr

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Assembly takes up future of park, ball fields
ISSUE: Should Bicentennial remain woods and trails or open to field sports?
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 15, 2002)

After its biggest public debate in years, the Anchorage Assembly is poised make a decision about the value and the future of its largest urban park.

The 400-kid Simonian Little League and the city administration want to build baseball diamonds on about 25 acres of what is now woods in Far North Bicentennial Park.

Ball field supporters say that's just a slice out of a park that is bigger than some counties. Park defenders worry that the city is chipping away at a unique and increasingly valuable piece of urban wildland.

A decision on the baseball fields is on the Assembly's agenda tonight, but it is not likely to come to a vote until Jan. 29.

The issue spawned an emotional argument complete with weeks of public hearings and complaints about special interest pressure. At the heart of the debate stood the question: Should the park keep its trails-and-woods character or include more facilities for field sports?

Such debates are increasingly common nationally, said Andy Schwartz, research director for the New York-based nonprofit group Project for Public Spaces.

Bicentennial Park is probably among the nation's 25 biggest city parks. Its large undeveloped areas distinguish it from the majority, which often hold facilities like zoos and golf courses, Schwartz said.

Many old and established cities no longer face such a dilemma. In comparatively young Anchorage, officially designated parkland is often mixed with other undeveloped property that people tend to use as a park.

Bicentennial is a perfect example. The park as most users know it includes a mix of neighboring parks and city land used for recreation and the Bureau of Land Management's Campbell Tract.

City parks officials say Bicentennial is 3,600 acres to 3,700 acres. The larger area around it, where people walk, ski, run and bike, effectively adds about 1,800 acres.

However it is counted, the park plays a vital role in the city's identity. Bears and moose roam its woods. It's the start of the Tour of Anchorage Nordic ski race. And it's loved by a variety of users from mushers to ski jumpers.

Bicentennial was named for the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. In 1976, the federal government transferred about 4,260 acres of former military land through the state to the city and let the BLM keep 730 acres.

A majority of the park was meant to be wild, according to the Anchorage Borough's 1974 park master plan. The remaining lands could include public buildings at the park's north and west ends, a golf course and sports fields on the BLM land, and picnic sites and trails on the park's southwest end.

The updated 1985 plan no longer included a golf course. But it held some similar themes: the southwest corner -- where the baseball fields are proposed -- should be a "play meadow," and ball fields should go on BLM land.

But the BLM says the city never negotiated an agreement to use the land. Meanwhile, the BLM determined baseball diamonds don't fit with the natural setting around its Campbell Creek Science Center, said BLM spokesman Edward Bovy.

The question to the Assembly is whether to change the 1985 management plan, allowing baseball fields.

Champions have emerged for both sides.

Art Geuss, a dentist, who worked on both previous plans, said the city should change the entire plan but should first allow the fields at the proposed site. The city has grown and changed since the 1985 plan was written, he said.

More people live in that part of town, for instance. They need the community park, which the city has proposed in addition to the ball fields, he said.

The league needs the fields quickly, Geuss said. League officers say they need to have the fields this summer so the ground will be ready for play in 2004, when they must vacate their current fields.

Tom Meacham, a lawyer who worked on the 1985 plan, disagrees. The comments before the Assembly opposing the ball fields in the park show the public doesn't support a change, he said.

"The idea was that this land would be something unique in Anchorage," Meacham said. "It would be like it was when the white man came and would largely remain that way."

The city has already chipped away at the park, Meacham said. In 2000, voters approved a 20-year lease giving Hilltop Ski Area 30 acres for additional slopes.

Other developments have begun to dot the park proper, as well as the open city land around it. The Alaska Botanical Garden opened on about 100 acres of city land in the early 1990s. The School District opened Benny Benson school in 1991 on 14 acres of city land nearby.

The Bureau of Land Management built the Campbell Creek Science Center in 1996 on the northern part of its holdings. The land, less than an acre, had been an aircraft parking space, Bovy said.

Voters in 1992 rejected a proposal to put an Alaska Native cultural center on the site later occupied by the botanical garden.

City parks chief Jim Posey says changes like the botanical garden have enhanced the area. They help more people realize there's a park, provide more access points and help take care of trees, he said.

"I look at it as a big, big park with the potential for a lot of different users," Posey said. "If you take a slice of this community, different people like to do different things."

Bicentennial Park itself doesn't have much more room for developments, Posey said. Wetlands, creeks and crossings would complicate other projects.

But more debates like this one seem likely, if not for Bicentennial Park then for the surrounding land. The city has more than 370 acres zoned for public land and institutions; a main mushing trail runs through part of it. And in about 20 years, the BLM's claim on its 730 acres will come up again for review.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907-257-4310.

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Park was made for ball fields too
Compass
By Dr. Art Geuss Jr.
(Published: January 9, 2002)

With 17 years of experience in Anchorage park planning and oversight, I feel that I can speak to the history of what was intended in Far North Bicentennial Park.

The creation of the park would not have taken place if we had not drawn a plan for many and varied uses in the park. There was heavy pressure for much of the present park tract to be allowed to become housing. One of the compromises that was fashioned was to allow the development of park facilities along the west and south borders to serve the needs of the many homes that would eventually be built there. It was envisioned that the upper or east side of the park be kept in a wilderness state, the central third would be only used for trail use, and that most park development be confined to the edges of the park on the west and south.

The south side development would provide facilities for downhill and cross-country skiing. The west side was to eventually provide for playing fields for not only Little League, but also for soccer, other ball sports, picnic areas, our first 18-hole golf course and more.

The Bureau of Land Management was to vacate the entire site within 15 years, which obviously has not yet happened. It probably was a mistake to trust that we would have the BLM site, much of it already cleared, and be able to put most of these facilities in that area.

By not leaving the precise locations open along that side, we have created the need for minor revisions to the park plan to allow the community park to be built. It is important to recognize that the proposed park is badly needed adjacent to the neighborhood to provide picnic, play areas and trails into the park, as well as the Little League complex.

In more than 30 years of working for parks and trails in Anchorage, this is the first time I have opposed buying additional park land. The site adjacent to the new Safeway store is in an ugly commercial area and would require parents to drive their children because it would be too dangerous to walk to. It is too small for the community park and would result in baseballs flying into traffic. If it does go to a vote, I submit that the voters will vote it down decisively. We have far more pressing needs here for our precious taxpayer dollars, when we already own a vastly superior site adjacent to the neighborhoods that are most needy.

The Assembly is facing an onslaught from a small group of well-organized and selfish folks who are not satisfied with only wilderness and trail use for most of our 4,200-acre park. Some of these people are the same ones who fought the development of the Hilltop Ski Area, and if they are successful in blocking our needed community park, those who want other soccer and ball fields, picnic areas and children's play areas will have an even tougher time stopping them in the future. We must not let this group that doesn't want a tree cut and wants exclusive use for the few to prevent serving all of our residents.

Parks are for people, and two-thirds of more than 4,000 acres for wilderness and trails is more than enough. Let's support placing our needed community park on the edge of Bicentennial Park.

Art Geuss was a member of the committee that wrote the Bicentennial Park Plan and a later revised plan, and served on the old borough and municipal parks commissions for 17 years.

(Web Editor's note: For a rebuttal of just a few of the wayward points in Mr. Geuss' piece, click here.)

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Voters may get a swing at ball fields
ALTERNATIVE: Backers seek bond proposition to build field elsewhere.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: January 5, 2002)

A new option has surfaced in the debate over building baseball fields at Far North Bicentennial Park: Let Anchorage voters decide.

The idea involves putting a baseball field bond proposition on the April city election ballot. If the measure fails, the city would go ahead with its original plan: build fields at the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park.

Either way, the city could gain a new community park in the Abbott Loop area and the Simonian Little League would have a place to play when it loses its current fields in 2004.

The idea is a risk for Friends of Bicentennial Park and its allies. The group will have to help win popular support for the bond, or risk losing the woodsy 25 acres where people bike, run, walk and ski.

Jim Barr, a Friends member, said he suggested the idea. But a leading Simonian league parent agrees it might work, and Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch said he is willing to look at it.

Little League parents say they need answers now to get new fields ready by 2004. The ball field complex would eat up a tiny amount of the park's total land and serve the needs of the city's youths, ball field advocates argue.

Park defenders have resisted, trying any alternative to avoid razing a corner of the city's largest and wildest park. Turning the wild land into baseball fields would chip away at the park's character, they argue, and make it harder to fight similar proposals in the future.

The bond idea is one of several circulating less than two weeks before the Assembly votes on whether to amend Bicentennial Park's master plan and set the stage for building ball fields there.

Assemblyman Allan Tesche is interested in a proposal to trade land for the league players: Swapping city land near Raspberry Road for property near Dowling Road and Lake Otis Parkway. The latter parcel is owned by Art Simonian, the league's namesake. But the city's Public Works Department also wants the Raspberry Road land for a street maintenance facility.

Other options would build fields at Ruth Arcand Park near Spring Hill Elementary School or buy property at East 88th Avenue and Abbott Road.

The league, with about 400 players, has been looking for a new site since the spring of 1999, when Simonian announced he was selling land where the league had played for about 25 years.

The league uses three fields on eight acres, but it needs four fields on 15 acres, said David Manzer, head of the league's site selection effort. Fields are crowded, and scheduling keeps kids out too late at night, he said.

The new park also could have a soccer field and a playground.

Wuerch expressed interest in the Bicentennial location about a year ago. But after people complained that the city hadn't fully explored alternatives, city parks officials hired Land Design North last winter to look at alternatives.

Land Design North looked at 33 locations near the Abbott Loop area where Simonian players live, then narrowed the list to five options. The consultant's goal was to look not just for a site for the Little League, but something big enough for a community park.

City officials have effectively excluded many of the choices by looking for a new location that can also work as a community park, that fits all the league's diamonds in one location and that provides 15 acres for the league, rather than eight.

Posey said that he wanted to avoid having league parents driving their kids to several different fields and that putting baseball diamonds at a community park would encourage multiple uses.

The five choices identified by the consultant include using part of the Bureau of Land Management's 730-acre holding within Far North Bicentennial Park, buying land in the area, using the controversial site in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park, using city land just north of the BLM holding, or putting the fields at multiple locations, including school grounds and existing parks.

The BLM land is not readily available. City officials at one point thought it might be.

Posey has since pushed the southwest Bicentennial corner: It's big enough for the league and a community park, is centrally located and the city already owns it.

Assemblyman Doug Van Etten, who represents that part of town, says the Assembly should consider all the consultant's options. At least, he said, the city administration should keep pursuing alternatives rather than pushing one proposal.

Posey says he's repeatedly recommended using Bicentennial Park because every other alternative takes money he does not have.

Wuerch is more adamant. The administration's proposal is the result of a 21/2-year process, he said.

"The problem is (a) vocal group doesn't like the answer," he said. "But you know you can't win them all."

Although Wuerch says he'd be willing to consider a bond measure, he still wants the Assembly to amend the park plan so the city could build fields on the southwest corner. He said he wants to see bond specifics, like the cost.

Even with more specifics, there might be disagreements about the details.

For instance, Friends of Bicentennial Park wants a baseball bond to be combined with this year's $7 million to $8 million general parks bond, fearing Wuerch might try to undermine it if it is separate.

Barr said he wants the city to take every opportunity it can to add parkland and to avoid altering a treasured resource -- undeveloped open space.

These choices are going to become increasingly common with population in the Anchorage Bowl predicted to grow almost 40 percent between 1998 and 2020, and the demand for sports fields grows, he said.

"We probably do have to take special measures to protect that land," Barr said.

The Simonian's Manzer says he supports the park bond concept, as long as a specific site is dedicated in the bond proposal.

Manzer said the league has worked too long to get new diamonds, and is getting too close to its deadline, to back ideas that aren't solid.

The league doesn't have to use its new fields until 2004, but it needs to have grass planted by the end of this summer.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907 257-4310

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Opinion
(Published: January 5, 2002)

Let's get on with it
It's now time to settle Simonian ball field battle

Out of left field comes a proposal for settling the drawn-out dispute on whether to put the Simonian Little League fields into Far North Bicentennial Park. If that's the best way to get the project moving, fine. The important thing is to get moving.

The idea would give the community a chance to make the call: Voters could pony up for land elsewhere in an April bond proposition if they want to leave the park alone. If the bond proposal fails, however, the ball fields would go into the park, end of story. That hangs a lot of freight onto a bond proposal, given the high feelings aroused by the ball fields fracas. But either way, the ball fields would get built -- in time to keep the Simonian Little League in business.

And that's the bottom line. We've got to focus on getting the ball fields built -- no more, no less. After 21/2 years of talk, it's time to make a decision. The grass has to be planted on new ball fields by the end of the summer. That means it's time, now, to cut through the hash of definitions, counterproposals and late-to-the-party alternatives that threaten to derail the effort.

New Little League fields shouldn't be this hard. They are, after all, green space and open space. We already have ball fields attached to many city parks and greenbelts. Their construction should be neither an environmental disaster nor a controlling precedent for further invasions of Bicentennial Park.

This battle has stretched out long enough. A bunch of Little Leaguers need a place to play, a bunch of parents and coaches need time to build the fields, and the community needs to be able to settle the dispute decently.

By now the fight has reached epic proportions, with accusations of malice, treachery, elitism, and pro- or anti-development perfidy flying around on all sides. Some proponents have turned the ball fields into an anti-green crusade; some opponents have suggested that giving up a small patch of land for a different kind of green space is the beginning of the end of Far North Bicentennial Park.

Step back a moment. Somehow, the community needs to prove to itself that neither of these things is true. Turning the site of a few Little League fields into a proxy war for the whole future of the park just isn't getting us anywhere. We need to focus on the problem: finding the kids a place to play. The original park plan envisioned giving the Assembly the option of just this type of use -- and the burden of considering carefully the ramifications if it does.

But the politics have gotten out of hand, overshadowing the simple need for a place to play. If the proposal being floated this week gives Anchorage a chance to amicably settle the issue, we're all for it. If the Assembly decides to take the bit in its teeth and approve the new ball fields when it's scheduled to take up the matter Jan. 15, that's OK, too. Either way, let's get on with it. The decision is overdue

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Which 'kids' want these new ball fields, anyway?
Craig Medred
Outdoors
(Published: December 23, 2001)

Once more Far North Bicentennial Park is under attack from special-interest groups wanting to peck to pieces one of the city's greatest natural assets. This raises an important question:

Why not lacrosse?

There isn't a single lacrosse field in Anchorage, while we've got people clamoring to carve up Far North for more baseball diamonds. What forward-thinking resident would do this?

Baseball is passe -- an old, East Coast game fading fast, even there.

If you want your kid to have plenty of fields on which to play baseball, move to the other side of the Mississippi River. You shouldn't have any trouble finding a city with empty baseball diamonds growing weeds and collecting dust.

Don't get me wrong.

I love the smell of lime-dust in the morning and the sweet crack of wood on leather.

I grew up with the game in the Midwest. My dad played on a topflight amateur team back when baseball was the national pasttime. My grandfather batted his way out of Pennsylvania poverty playing semi-pro ball.

Grandpa never talked about his family, but he was proud of his days as a baseball player. When they wrote his obituary, it went down as one of his life's major accomplishments.

But that's ancient history now. Grandfather Medred was buried by the time baseball started going downhill to the ping, ping, pinging of aluminum bats.

Baseball just isn't the thing for kids today. They prefer soccer, snowboarding, video games, skateboarding or, yes, lacrosse.

So I get a little put off by Simonian Little League parents trying to hack themselves off a chunk of our park with the old refrain about doing it "for the kids."

This is a cheap, parental ploy. The least we could wish for is a little honesty.

The people involved here aren't doing it "for the kids." They're doing it "for their kid."

If the adults all stepped back and asked the "kids" about all this -- all of the kids in all of Anchorage -- I'm not so sure they wouldn't tell us to leave the park alone "for the moose," or simply express their wishes for that skateboard park.

Or lacrosse.

That's my favorite.

If we're going to sacrifice Far North to special interests, let's do it for the special interests of the future instead of the special interests of the past. Tacking onto the lacrosse track might unsettle organizers of the Simonian Little League, but then they have other things they should be worrying about.

If my kid were a Simonian, the first thing I'd be doing these days is lobbying to get the name of the league changed. Consider the origin.

"Simonian Little League teams played for 25 years on land donated by Art Simonian with ball fields maintained by parents" is how one of the parents summarized it in an op-ed piece for this newspaper.

It's an interesting use of the term "donated." Simonian's donation was to let the kids use some vacant land until it became valuable. Then he sold it.

Makes you wonder if maybe the city couldn't defuse the current debate by simply "donating" the Simonian Little League space for ball fields in the Far North park on the condition said ball fields never get built. Then these Little League parents could declare victory and go find somewhere else to play, or they could give it up and jump on the lacrosse bandwagon.

Lacrosse is reportedly the second-fastest growing muscle-powered sport in the country, second only to soccer.

It is a sport that springs from Native American roots, a sport invented by American Indians.

This makes it both the sport of the prehistoric past and perhaps the technological future.

If we're going to give away irreplaceable city park lands, shouldn't we at least be doing so with a look ahead? Wouldn't it be better to have fields crowded with sweaty, enthusiastic lacrosse players in the year 2020 than to add to the number of American baseball fields gathering dust?

What's a baseball field in Alaska nine months of the year anyway? Nothing but a big, white blight.

A NASCAR track at Far North would make more sense.

NASCAR is the fastest-growing sport in America, and Anchorage residents yearn for a professional sport.

The stock car season is no shorter than the baseball season, and think about the possibilities for the track during the frozen nine months of the year.

We could flood it and lay claim to the world's biggest, smoothest, fastest speed-skating oval.

On the other hand, since everyone here seems to be interested in "the kids," maybe we should let them make the decision themselves. How about a referendum with voting limited to those ages 6 to 18? Make it a multiple-choice question. Pick one:

• Baseball diamonds
• Skateboard park
• NASCAR track
• Tennis courts
• Moose pasture
• Paint ball battlefield
• Lacrosse fields
• Video arcade

If we're going to sacrifice more undeveloped land -- some of the kind of semi-wild land where I had the most fun playing as a kid -- let's do it for a good reason.

And if we can't find a good reason, let's at least desecrate the park in an equal-opportunity manner. Lets take the names of all the land-hungry organizations to which parents and kids belong, toss them in a hat, and hold the 1st Annual Winner-Take-All Drawing to Peck the Park to Pieces.

We can do it in honor of the ducks, or the displaced moose, which Anchorage residents profess to love even as they make it harder and harder for the big animals to survive by mowing down the willow and aspen they eat in order to grow more grass for human fields of dreams.

Outdoors editor Craig Medred is a Daily News opinion columnist.

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Voice Of The Times
(Published: December 20, 2001)

(Web editor's note: For those not familiar with "Voice of the Times," it is the remnants of the failed Anchorage Times which was Anchorage's premier daily for many years. The Anchorage Daily News gives the former Times editors a half page everyday to provide a counterpoint to issues of the day. They claim to be "the conservative voice" with all the suspicion of government that includes. That puts them in an odd position on this issue where Assemblyman Doug VanEtten has simply forced the city to follow its own laws and the legal requirements of its own plans. Any good conservative should applaud that!)

Simonian Baseball fields are a . . .

No brainer

THE DILLYDALLYING over where to put the Simonian Little League baseball fields is becoming an embarrassment to the city.

The Assembly should not dawdle another minute in changing the Far North Bicentennial Park master plan to allow the fields on about 25 acres of the 4,000-acre park. And it should do so despite orchestrated and vocal resistance from those few who, for whatever selfish reason, abhor development of any sort -- even if it directly benefits kids.

The question is whether the Simonian Little League -- which is about to lose the donated baseball fields it has used for 25 years -- will be able to use ball fields and a soccer field convenient to the less affluent neighborhoods where its kids live. If it has no fields, the league likely will not survive.

A coterie of assemblyfolks headed by Doug Van Etten -- and beholden to green outfits such as the Alaska Conservation Voters -- coyly claims it is seeking the ever-elusive "win-win" solution. In greenspeak that means study, have hearings and stall. They've managed to delay for about two years, and now have delayed further, until Jan. 15.

While it is a wonder these folks have not suggested deporting the league's kids to Kenai or making them play badminton instead of baseball, they have come up with just about every other conceivable way to sink the park's use for baseball fields. Those include spreading the fields all over town, spending millions of taxpayers' dollars to buy expensive tracts for the fields, or building them at various schools.

They refuse to acknowledge that the best, most logical solution, and certainly the least expensive, is to use a tiny sliver of the park. It is the fairest, most equitable solution for the kids, their families and the rest of the city.

We are left to wonder why it has taken so long for the right thing to happen. Surely it cannot be the fear that a mere 25 acres will somehow cripple the park system in and near the city. After all, there are something like 14,900 acres in Anchorage's 230 parks.

Surely it cannot be because city residents do not have access to other recreational areas. The nearby Chugach National Forest boasts 5.4 million acres, about the size of New Jersey, and the Chugach State Park has 495,000 more.

Surely it cannot be because the city's residents roundly reject the idea of putting the baseball fields in a tiny portion of the park's southwest corner. More than 72 percent of 390 respondents tapped in a citywide poll last week support putting the fields in the park.

So why would some Assembly members endanger the very existence of the Simonian Little League? They must know that using a tiny portion of the park for the league's ball fields is the obvious answer. Why can't they act?

Politics.

And in politics it too often comes down to who you owe, not what you know.

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Assembly ponders ball field feedback
LITTLE LEAGUE: An impassioned public sends hundreds of e-mails.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 12, 2001)

Assembly members are sifting through new poll numbers and hundreds of public comments as they consider whether to allow ball fields at Far North Bicentennial Park. But at least some don't plan to make a decision by the numbers alone.

The public is speaking out like it hasn't since issue like gay rights, water fluoridation and cat licensing, some Assembly members say. Hundreds of e-mails have been filed. On Tuesday, the Assembly heard hours of comments for the second time in a month.

All this because the Assembly is considering changing the Far North Bicentennial Park master plan; a move it must do before the city can allow ball fields on 20 to 25 acres in the southwest corner.

Families of the Simonian Little League say the park is the only reasonable place to go when they have to leave their fields by 2004. Park lovers worry about razing an area where people run and hike through the woods.

Assemblywoman Cheryl Clementson says she's looking for the quality of comments, not quantity, especially if someone can offer a realistic alternative for the league. Assemblywoman Anna Fairclough says she's considering the entire community's need for fields.

Assemblywoman Fay Von Gemmingen wants ball fields in the park as well as in other areas nearby, but she says she's keeping her ears open.

"I never make up my mind until I hear things," Von Gemmingen said. "It's important for us to listen."

The issue pits several values against each other: the needs of children and the importance of team sports against the love of wildlife and a desire to preserve natural surroundings that don't exist in other parts of the country.

Several speakers Tuesday said they wanted it all. They said the city should expand parkland, not change the face of a park to build ball fields.

"I am a taxpayer," Hans Arnett said. "I am willing to pay for parklands now so we'll have them in the future."

Carey Cossaboom testified in favor of ball fields, saying they would comprise only a small fraction of the park.

By 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, people speaking against putting ball fields in Bicentennial Park outnumbered those supporting the move. But a Marc Hellenthal poll released Tuesday by supporters showed the opposite: 72.1 percent of Anchorage residents support the park ball fields.

"If I was an Assembly member I wouldn't know how the general community felt if my only input was from e-mails and comments before the Assembly," said David Manzer, head of the Simonian league's new ball field location committee.

Opponents said the poll's question wasn't balanced. It didn't, for instance, mention that there were alternative sites where the ball fields could go, said Dan Rosenberg, chairman of the group Friends of Bicentennial Park.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907 257-4310.

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A win-win solution can be found elsewhere
POINTCOUNTERPOINT: Ball fields in Bicentennial Park?
Pixie Siebe
Community Activist
(Published in ADN: November 29, 2001)

Listening to testimony from Simonian Little League supporters, two themes stand out: 1) Only the Bicentennial Park site will suit their needs; 2) Supporters of preserving the park are opposed to kids and ball fields. Both are completely ridiculous.

Starting a year ago, Assemblyman Doug Van Etten hosted several informal public meetings trying to reach a win-win solution with the Little Leaguers. Unfortunately, before the public process began, Mr. Manzer of Simonian Little League had already been offered the 25 acres in Far North Bicentennial Park by a park planner. In spite of the meetings, and the Land Design North Report, which listed more than 30 possible options and stated that land acquisition for a park would be the "best solution for the community as a whole," the Little Leaguers have not lost their vision of cutting down trees in Bicentennial Park.

Friends of Bicentennial Park has offered to contact possible corporate donors to help acquire land; to assist in renovating temporary fields if land acquisition and development don't meet the 2004 deadline for play; and to work with the Anchorage School District to establish jointly used parks that will serve areas presently without a park.

In 1982, the Anchorage Park, Greenbelt and Recreational Facilities Plan identified the need to acquire more than 80 acres of community park land in the Abbott Loop area. This has not happened. This area is reaching development saturation. If land for open space, including more parks and ball fields, is not acquired soon, the opportunity will be gone.

Voters have approved about $600,000 in two bond issues to provide money for an Abbott Loop Community Park. This money should do more than convert natural land in a regional park into a ball field complex. Let's spend the money where it's really needed: near more densely populated neighborhoods with no parks.

The newly adopted 2020 Comprehensive Plan for Anchorage refers frequently and consistently to the value of retaining natural open space and locating parks and recreational areas in town centers. Building ball fields and other amenities in the corridor surrounding Lake Otis Parkway and the Seward highways would benefit the population growth center of the Abbott Loop community. There are several possible sites mentioned in the Land Design North study that meet this criteria. They include the new Safeway location on 88th and Abbott Road and Art Simonian's property adjacent to the present fields.

Creating a new park is a chance to follow the comprehensive plan, support town centers, improve our community's livability, build ball fields and preserve Far North Bicentennial Park in its natural condition.

Pixie Siebe is a community activist and founding volunteer of Friends of Bicentennial Park.

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Park is the only timely and affordable option
POINTCOUNTERPOINT: Ball fields in Bicentennial Park?
Greg Magee
Anchorage resident
(Published in ADN: November 29, 2001)

As a 20-year resident of Anchorage, I have seen many successes and failures with development in our community. I have also seen various community plans amended to keep current with changing times. Now, the 16-year-old Updated Far North Bicentennial Park Master Plan (1985) needs to be amended. This amendment will allow sports or ball fields in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park, where a 30-acre area was reserved for community park purposes in that plan.

I believe the amendment, now before the Assembly, will provide a win-win situation for everyone who uses Far North Bicentennial Park and participates in Simonian Little League. If there were a perfect site on municipal parkland outside Bicentennial Park for Simonian Little League, an amendment wouldn't be needed. However, there is a perfect site inside Bicentennial Park that balances this need with the available resources.

The Land Design North study identified and evaluated 33 sites through a comprehensive screening process and public input. Five alternatives were forwarded for further consideration. The best site is in Bicentennial Park (Alternative 2). The Municipality of LF Anchorage recommended this site, and the Planning and Zoning Commission overwhelmingly approved their recommendation.

Alternative 2 is the only alternative that is practical, timely and affordable. Compared to the other alternatives, this site has enough area to accommodate the community park and four ball fields, it can be realistically developed in time to continue league play by 2004, and no funding is needed to purchase land, which is usually the largest cost component of development. The industrial site at 88th and Dimond, which was reported in the Daily News and evaluated by the study, is not feasible. The suggestion at the last public hearing of another Simonian property being for sale is just a late marketing ploy. These sites are highly uncertain, problematic and costly.

At this late date, let's not reinvent the wheel or circumvent the progress that has been made over the last 21/2 years to find a new home for Simonian Little League. Let's move forward. There will be further due diligence during the plan reviews to ensure that the proposed Abbott Loop/Simonian Community Park is properly developed for all users.

As a user of Bicentennial Park and a participant in Simonian Little League, I understand and appreciate both sides of the issue. However, I believe the proposed 25-acre development will provide additional amenities for both summer and winter uses and offer improved access for everyone to use Bicentennial Park.

Greg Magee is a professional engineer and an avid Nordic skier and has grandsons in Simonian Little League.

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City turns out to comment on ball fields
FULL HOUSE: Public hearing filled to capacity as citizens weigh pros, cons of Bicentennial Park site.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: November 21, 2001)

The Anchorage Assembly Tuesday got its first brush with park lovers and Little League supporters who weighed in at a public hearing on whether the city should use part of Far North Bicentennial Park for ball fields.

The crowd in attendance filled the Assembly auditorium to its 256-person capacity with others waiting to get in. The two-hour hearing could have gone longer if the Assembly chairman had not set a time limit and continued the hearing until Dec. 11.

The Anchorage Assembly is considering altering the Far North Bicentennial Park master plan, which is necessary before the city can allow ball fields at the southwest corner of the park.

Approval would mean a home for the 400-player Simonian Little League. Builder Art Simonian sold the league's current fields 21/2 years ago. The new owner allowed the league to stay until 2004.

Mary Paye told the Assembly she has two children in the Simonian league and supported having fields at the park.

"This land belongs to all of us," she said. "It needs to be available for every member of our community, regardless of how big or how small."

Mike See, administrator for Alaska District 1 Little League, said there wasn't room in other area little leagues to absorb the Simonian players.

Everyone on the Assembly wants ball fields, said Assemblyman Dick Tremaine. It's a question of where the ball fields go.

One option would be for the city to buy 18 acres of land next to where the Little League now plays at Dowling Road and Lake Otis Boulevard, said Lottie Michael, the Realtor for Simonian. Simonian, she said, is asking about $2.6 million for that land.

Assemblyman Allan Tesche asked Michael if this property could wait until the spring for the public to vote on a bond proposition. Michael said it could.

Earlier Tuesday, Jim Posey, who oversees the city's parks, said the city has missed this year's construction season, and so it will be difficult to have fields ready to play on at a community park at Far North Bicentennial Park by 2004.

Posey said he plans to put a 20-acre community park in the southwest corner of the park whether or not the Assembly changes the park master plan. Voters have approved bond issues for a community park in southeast Anchorage, he said.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907 257-4310

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Developer offers to play ball
BALL FIELDS: JL Properties provides possible answer to Little League controversy.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: November 20, 2001)

An alternative to building baseball fields in Far North Bicentennial Park is picking up steam just as the Anchorage Assembly prepares to hold a public hearing on the subject tonight at Loussac Library.

City officials say commercial developer JL Properties is interested in the ball field idea as part of a land trade with the city. The fields would be near a proposed Safeway at East 88th Avenue and Abbott Road.

If the deal works, the 400-player Simonian Little League would have a place to play. The city wouldn't have to cut down trees on 18 to 25 acres in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park to build ball fields. And a running argument between park defenders and Little League parents, with the Assembly in the middle, could be over -- or at least subject to a truce.

The Assembly has before it a decision to amend the Bicentennial Park master plan to clear the way for ball fields. Talk of a new deal won't get the Assembly to hold off, said Assembly Chairman Dick Traini.

"I'm hearing it's a ghost and a rumor and a whisper," Traini said of the latest alternative. "It's a shadow, but there's no substance yet."

Traini plans to hold a public hearing on the fields tonight but doesn't expect the Assembly to finish the hearing, let alone vote.

JL Properties chief executive officer Jon Rubini said Monday it's "premature to talk about anything." But Jim Posey, who oversees city parks, and Heritage Land Bank director George Cannelos said Rubini talked to each of them about the project informally at last week's Assembly meeting.

Posey described the idea this way: JL Properties and perhaps another developer would buy a parcel next to a proposed Safeway at 88th Avenue and Abbott Road. They would fix up the property and sell it to the city in exchange for land and cash valued at what Posey guessed would be $5 million to $8 million. The undeveloped land alone could cost about $3 million, he said.

Posey has recommended putting the ball fields in the park. He said it's unlikely the city could raise money to buy the 88th Avenue land for ball fields. Cannelos said he would look at a land trade if formally approached but sees Bicentennial Park as the best location for the league for now.

The Abbott Road location has strengths, said Assemblyman Doug Van Etten. The ball fields could create a central sports complex, with a possible indoor soccer field. An ice arena is nearby.

David Manzer, a Little League coach and supporter, says he has a hard time imagining a deal working out soon enough. He said grass must be planted by next fall for teams to play by 2004, when the league's current fields will be no longer available.

The ball field proposal comes to light while JL Properties is involved in another deal before the Assembly at 4 p.m. today. That's a trade including land in Spenard, the mobile home park formerly known as Plaza 36, and other properties. The two proposals are unconnected, Cannelos said.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 257-4310.

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Daily News Editorial
(November 20, 2001)

New fields
Diamonds won't spoil jewel

It's a close call but clear. Lacking a solid alternative, let's open 25 acres in the southwest corner of Far North Bicentennial Park for Little League fields.

In May 2004, the Simonian Little League of about 500 players will need a place to play. They need to start clearing land and building fields this spring to be ready for play in 2004.

The Bicentennial land is an ideal choice. It's also a lovely part of the woods, trails and streams that make up more than 4,000 acres of peace, quiet and as close to wilderness as the Anchorage Bowl gets. This is precious land. That's why it's a close call.

Is there sacrifice involved? Yes. The green and good of four Little League baseball fields do not come without clear-cutting and a 200-space parking lot. Neighborhood residents will lose some of the narrow game trails through the woods just beyond their back yards.

But there still will be plenty of park. And the benefits of a cohesive, central place for Little Leaguers to play, parents to watch and neighbors to gather will outweigh what's lost.

There's an opportunity here, to make these fields a model of how to do things right. Let's build beautiful fields, with a decent buffer of woods between the neighborhood and the fields. How about leaving some trees as screens wherever possible, even between the fields?

When not used by the Simonian Little League, these fields should be open to community use. No locked gates. If other amenities can be added -- a warm-up shelter for skiers, soccer field, picnic area -- they should be.

We understand the fear that Far North Bicentennial Park is gradually being cut to pieces. It's tempting to draw a line and say no more development other than trails. But that ignores the simple fact that Anchorage is a city, not a wilderness, with the needs of a city of more than a quarter-million people.

We'll still have the tranquillity of the woods even if we make room for Simonian's diamonds. And the park will still be green.

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Park is Little League's only chance
Compass
By David Manzer
Commentary
(Published: November 16, 2001)

The debate surrounding land designation for Little League fields could soon be resolved. The answer lies in sharing less than 1 percent of Bicentennial Park with our children in the name of preserving the national pastime in our city.

For the past 25 years, Simonian Little League has been playing on private land. That land has now been sold, and we need new fields for our kids to play on by May 2004. If we fail, it will be the end of Simonian Little League for our kids for lack of a place to play.

The only reasonable -- indeed the only possible -- solution is the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park, the parcel adjacent to Abbott Loop Road and Zodiac Manor Subdivision. None of the other alternatives cited by opponents of this plan would be ready by 2004, even if the land could be obtained. On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly will take public testimony on a proposal to allow four baseball/softball fields, a soccer field, playground and picnic area to be built. This plan will provide a wide array of recreational possibilities for families of all ages and interests. Simonian Little League will help build and maintain these fields with volunteer effort. No officially designated trails will be harmed. In fact, the project will enhance access to the regional park and allow for a mix of uses in the Community Park.

We are encouraged by the approximately 1,300 Anchorage residents who supported this proposal in writing and by the Planning and Zoning Commission's overwhelming approval in September. Our supporters represent a wide cross-section of citizens. Our common ground is the belief that recreational opportunities for our children contribute to their healthy growth and development -- and therefore to their future and ours.

Plan opponents argue that new fields aren't needed. Yet the 2020 comprehensive plan (the same plan approved by the Assembly that acknowledges a lack of sports fields in Anchorage) forecasts an average 41 percent population growth in Anchorage between 1998 and 2020. How can we not prepare for our future?

The entire Community Park footprint of 25 acres represents less than 0.6 percent of the total combined 4,300 acres in Bicentennial Park and the BLM's Campbell Tract. In fact, 980 of these acres lie within "active recreation areas," according to the park's master plan. To date, exactly none of those designated recreation areas have been converted to open sports fields. By agreeing to share this area, we offer our children a place to participate in the national pastime while not detracting from the adequate trail facilities already used by recreationists.

Contrary to Dan Rosenberg's claim in a Compass piece ("Park is a legacy to be preserved," Sept. 10) opposing this proposal, everyone would be welcome in this park. We don't "lock" any children out, no matter what. Children and adults could play ball on these fields when regular practices and games aren't scheduled. If a child's family can't afford to pay, Little League waives its modest registration fee so that everyone can participate. We are an inclusive organization, and the fields will be an asset to our community.

Ball fields are an appropriate use of municipal parkland. That's one of the reasons we have parks. Please contact your Assembly members today and plan to attend Tuesday's Assembly meeting to express and demonstrate your support of this important proposal.

David Manzer is a father, small business owner, Simonian Little League coach, 25-year user of the Bicentennial Park trail system and record-holding wilderness racer.

For one man's rebuttal of Dave Manzer's points, click here.

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Officials tour site proposed for ball fields
PARK: Assembly members check out woods that might be cleared.

By Tim Pryor Anchorage Daily News
(Published: October 1, 2001)

Five Anchorage Assembly members spent Sunday afternoon walking through the woods and checking out baseball diamonds as they pondered alternatives for 18 to 25 acres of forest in Far North Bicentennial Park.

Few are taking a stand yet.

All the same, a two-hour walk with Little League parents, Bicentennial Park conservationists and parks officials let Assembly members see what they will vote on and helped them gather visual ammunition to back up arguments.

The proposal to build fields for the Simonian Little League and others has stirred debate between baseball parents who want their children to have a place to play and those who love the park and want to keep its woodsy feel.

More than two years ago, Art Simonian sold land he'd allowed the league to play on. The new owner let the league keep playing there until May 2004. The league says it needs to start construction on new fields by next summer to have them ready for play by the deadline.

The Assembly will decide in the next few months whether to change the park's master plan to allow the fields to be built. Assemblyman Doug Van Etten set up the tour to help Assembly members make a decision.

Van Etten and Assembly members Dick Tremaine, Dick Traini, Allan Tesche and Janice Shamberg -- five of the 11-member body -- started their Sunday tour with a visit to Abbott-O-Rabbit ball fields at O'Malley Road and Lake Otis Parkway.

That complex is a few acres smaller than what is proposed for Bicentennial Park, and the fields are closer together. But the group got a feel for how close-trimmed grass, diamonds and backstops might look.

Then, as the day became blustery, the group drove to a small dirt parking lot at East 84th Avenue and Abbott Loop Road.

Narrow paths overgrown with roots led them through the spruce and birch trees. Yellow leaves had fallen across the mossy, lumpy earth. The sound of traffic faded as they walked deeper into the forest until the only noise came from crackling branches underfoot and voices discussing the fate of this piece of land.

Jim Posey, an appointee of Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch who oversees parks, supports building four ball fields on the site along with about a 200-space parking lot. The Assembly would first have to amend the Far North Bicentennial Park master plan.

The city can expand a nearby parking lot and build a smaller playing field -- possibly a soccer practice field -- even if the Assembly doesn't approve the plan change, Posey said. He said he wasn't sure when.

Shamberg said she'll keep an open mind but is reluctant to see a portion of the park clear-cut. Tesche said he hasn't made up his mind.

Van Etten has: Building ball fields at Bicentennial is another example of the city chipping away at that park when it should be adding park space to serve a growing population.

Tremaine and Traini said they would prefer not to build the fields at Bicentennial but will support the plan if no better option is found soon.

Tremaine said he'd like to see fields closer to where the league's more than 400 players live. Traini, whose children played in the Simonian league, said he hopes the city can buy land for ball fields from Safeway near East 88th Avenue and Abbott Road.

With work on the city's annual budget about to begin, the ball fields issue isn't the Assembly's top priority, Traini said. He guessed the Assembly might tackle the issue by December or January.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907-257-4310.

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Ball fields in park win key vote
ZONING: Commission support sets stage for five Little League sites.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: September 14, 2001)

Plans to allow ball fields in the mostly wooded Far North Bicentennial Park won support from a key commission Wednesday, bringing baseball on park land one step closer to reality.

The Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission voted 6-1 to amend the Far North Bicentennial Park Master plan. The amendment would set the stage for building five fields and a parking lot at the southwest corner of the park.

Tom Klinkner, Don Karabelnikoff, Henry Penney, Toni Jones, Nancy Killoran and Ken Klein voted for the amendment. Commission Chairwoman Daphne Brown voted against it.

The Anchorage Assembly must approve the amendment, and the planning commission would have to agree to a more specific plan for the ball fields before the city could build them. The park has trails for running, biking and Nordic skiing. The ball fields would be the first such fields on dedicated land in the park.

The Simonian Little League, which would help the city build the fields, would have priority to use them, but others could play on the fields before 4 p.m. and on Sundays, said Jim Posey, who oversees the city's parks and other services.

Builder Art Simonian sold the league's current fields off Lake Otis Parkway 2 1/2 years ago after letting it play there for about 25 years. The new owner has allowed the league to play at that site until May 2004.

David Manzer, head of the Little League's site selection effort, said he didn't think any alternative other than the park land would work in a timely fashion. The more than 400-player league must begin construction by next summer in order to play by May 2004.

Klinkner said the park master plan already called for ball fields, but they weren't built because they were on federal Bureau of Land Management land and the BLM didn't support it.

Brown called the park a "jewel" that will face increasing pressure to have pieces carved out of it. The city has not built new parks as its neighborhoods have expanded.

The Assembly likely will take up the planning commission's recommendation in November, said Assembly Chairman Dick Traini.

Traini, whose children have played in the Simonian league for about 20 years, said he would look for other options before Bicentennial Park, such as seeing whether there is money in the city's Heritage Land Bank to buy other property for the ball fields.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907-257-4310.

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Park is a legacy to be preserved
Compass
Published September 10, 2001
By Dan Rosenberg

Far North Bicentennial Park (Park) was created in 1976, with a vision to preserve the land, waters, and wildlife habitat within its borders in a pristine condition while allowing for compatible recreational use. The Park was created to leave a legacy of urban wildlife and natural open space for the entire city, to benefit "our children and their children".

The Park's Updated Master Plan reinforced this vision by specifically excluding "extensive sports field development" on land bordering Abbott Loop Rd and Jupiter Drive. That's why so many citizens, who believe in good planning and are "Wild about Anchorage", are opposed to the Mayor's proposal to amend the Park plan to allow construction of fields, parking, and a snack bar for the Simonian Little League in this southwest corner of the Park.

Twenty-four years after the Park was established, the Anchorage Comprehensive Plan proudly states that "Anchorage residents have an experience of city life in the wilderness that no other American metropolitan area can match." Because once again, Anchorage citizens identified the protection of natural areas and wildlife as a high priority, the Comprehensive Plan embarked on a "new direction" with a strong commitment to protect natural open spaces. But by no means did the Comprehensive Plan ignore ballfields or community parks. It recognized that for efficiency they should be located in Town Centers or incorporated into existing infrastructure.

In 1982, the Parks, Greenbelt, and Recreation Facility Plan recognized the need for park acquisition in the Abbot Loop area, but little happened. Today, most neighborhoods in the Abbot Loop area lack any park at all. Rather than put a park where it's needed, the city chooses to redefine a piece of a regional park - dedicated to all Anchorage citizens - and call it a community park. But where is the "community" in this park? Neighborhood kids won’t be able to get together for a pick-up game. They will be locked out unless they join the Little League. The League won't even use these fields for practice, nor can anyone else.

Far North Bicentennial Park supports a variety of easily accessible, year-round recreation. While needs for soccer and baseball grow so does demand for natural open space and the recreation it provides. There is no reason to displace year-round multiple uses compatible with natural open space with chain link fences and idle fields. Those who proclaim that our choices are growing kids or growing trees are holding kids hostage in an attempt to hijack a legacy left to future generations. There are much better alternatives.

A recent Land Design North study identified alternative sites for ballfields and Community Parks that meet the needs of the League and the objectives of the Comprehensive Plan. Sites were identified that would add a park in neighborhoods without one, buffer neighborhoods from industrial development, serve both school and youth sports, reclaim vacant lots, provide more community activities including more fields for soccer and baseball, have safer access for kids, and be less costly to develop.

Let’s use public and private partnerships to acquire land or improve existing school facilities or neighborhood parks. Land may be scarce but it will never be cheaper or more abundant than present. If we don't take action now for the future of all our kids, when will we?

When the Park was created in 1976 we heard the same arguments we hear today - we need roads, gravel pits, houses, and ballfields. These were all rejected for the greater good of the community in preserving a bit of our heritage for present and future generations.

Why is Anchorage the only metropolitan area with unique natural open space and wildlife? Because other cities either didn't plan or didn't follow their plans. Anchorage is fortunate to have its natural setting and the wildlife and the recreation it provides. It will take conviction not rhetoric to keep it that way. Let the Planning and Zoning Commission know your thoughts on September 12. For more information visit www.kidsneedparks.org.

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Anchorage Daily News' Opinion
(Published July 10, 2001)

Easy, now Heated debate doesn't help park-vs.-Little League issue

Debate over whether to put Little League fields into Far North Bicentennial Park is getting testy.

One advocate for the ball fields recently complained in print about "not in my back yard (NIMBY) gibberish and smoke screens" and " 'bottom of the ninth' grandstanding."

On the other side, an advocate for leaving Bicentennial Park alone wrote that he was "growing tired of hearing your statements that alternative locations (such as school grounds) are wrong for this reason or that. . . . Guys, where I'm from when someone offers you something for nothing you take it, say thank you, and shut up."

To which we say: Hold on a minute, folks. Intemperate remarks aren't going to help the cause on either side.

Yes, passions are running high. But it will be better in the long run for both sides to temper the rhetoric.

There are two conflicting good causes here. One side can invoke the all-American image of Little Leaguers playing the nation's pastime on a pastoral field of green. The other side treasures the easily accessible woods and wildlife that make Anchorage so special.

Each side, understandably, approaches the dispute through a narrow prism. The simple solution for the Little Leaguers is to get free land that the city already owns in the park. The simple solution for friends of the park is for the league to go somewhere else -- anywhere else.

For the community as a whole, balancing the legitimate but conflicting interests in this case is more complicated. Anchorage is still groping to find the right balance. That job won't be any easier if the temperature of the rhetoric continues to rise.

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Commission ties 5-5 on ball field proposal vote
PARK: Plan to use Far North Bicentennial land will be revisited in July.
By Tim Pryor
Anchorage Daily News
(Published June 16, 2001)

A proposal to build ball fields in the southwest corner of Far North Bicentennial Park doesn't have a key city commission's stamp of approval, at least not yet.

The Anchorage Parks and Recreation Commission on Thursday night voted 5-5 on whether to support a staff recommendation to build a soccer field, a playground, three baseball fields and a T-ball field on 22 acres of park land.

The Simonian Little League is interested in using the location. Builder Art Simonian sold the league's current fields two years ago after letting it play there for about 25 years. The new owner allowed the league to play there a few more years.

The commission will revisit the issue in July, said Cultural and Recreational Services Director Jim Posey, who recommended the park be used for the sports fields. Posey hasn't decided whether to submit the same proposal.

The park is a good location for the fields because it wouldn't require the city to buy new property and would provide a place for 500 or so boys and girls with the Simonian Little League to play, Posey said.

Commission members who voted against building the fields at Bicentennial Park want another alternative but weren't sure where the fields should go, Posey said. The park land at issue is currently mostly trees with a trail head.

"They weren't willing to make a choice between trees and kids," Posey said.

Assemblyman Doug Van Etten said he sees the commission vote as a chance for him and Assemblyman Dick Traini to continue trying to locate ball fields for the Simonian Little League at an alternative location on Abbott Road and East 88th Avenue. Posey has said it might be hard to find the money to buy that land, which Van Etten estimates would cost $3.2 million. If the Parks and Recreation Commission recommends the ball fields should be built at Bicentennial Park, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission will consider it in August or September. Ultimately, it would require Assembly approval.

Building ball fields in the park's southwest corner would require an amendment to the city's Bicentennial Park plan. It says sports fields should not be part of the proposed site, but it also assumes ball fields could be built on nearby Bureau of Land Management property now not available, said city planning supervisor Tom Nelson.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 907 257-4310.

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Ball field search widens
SAFEWAY: New plan would be to buy land from supermarket.
By Tim Pryor And Tony Hopfinger
Anchorage Daily News
(Published June 13, 2001)

Doug Van Etten and Dick Traini may have come up with the most novel food and sports combination since baseball and hot dogs.

The two Anchorage Assembly members say they are talking with Safeway about creating a ball field-supermarket complex.

Van Etten says the prospect would provide a site other than Far North Bicentennial Park for the soon-to-be-homeless Simonian Little League. Builder Art Simonian two years ago sold the land he had allowed the league to play on for about 25 years. The new owner has allowed the league to continue playing there for a few more years.

Jim Posey, who oversees city parks, will ask the city Parks and Recreation Commission to support building new ball fields in the southwest corner of Bicentennial Park at its meeting Thursday. There are still too many unanswered questions about the Safeway deal, he said.

Van Etten and Traini say they spoke last week with Safeway about buying land from the supermarket chain in order to build four ball fields, most if not all for the little league, next to a proposed supermarket at East 88th Avenue and Abbott Road.

A Safeway spokeswoman said the supermarket chain has an option to buy the land, but hasn't decided if it will do so. She wouldn't say whether the company had talked to city officials about it. Van Etten said the supermarket chain could buy the land, then sell the city 14 acres they won't need for about $3.2 million.

Van Etten says the city could pay for the land with about $950,000 in voter-approved park bonds, funding from the city's real estate arm, the Heritage Land Bank, and possibly money raised from other sources like the Simonian Little League.

But Posey says finding the money will be harder than Van Etten thinks. Meanwhile, the city already owns Far North Bicentennial Park, it's well drained, and it won't be too expensive to develop, he said.

"Show me the money, that's where I am," Posey said.

This is the latest chapter in the Simonian Little League's more-than-two-year search for new ball fields. The effort has pitted parents of the league's 400 to 500 boys and girls against park lovers who say Bicentennial Park should be preserved as it is.

The 88th and Abbott location emerged as a possible ball field site when Van Etten and Traini heard that Safeway had the option to buy the land, which is currently owned by Anchorage-based Rock Partners, a real estate investment firm.

Safeway signed an option to buy the property last week, said company spokeswoman Cherie Meyers. A study to decide whether to build a store there could take between three months and two years, she said. Dave Deans, who represents Rock Partners, declined to comment Tuesday.

David Manzer, head of the little league's field acquisition committee, said the Safeway site would be convenient. But, like Posey, he said he's not sure the city could raise money fast enough to pay for the fields.

The league has to be off its current fields by May 2004, Manzer said. To meet that deadline, it must begin construction next spring and plant grass so the fields can sit idle for the summer of 2003.

"The money needs to be raised immediately," Manzer said.

Posey said much of the city bond money earmarked for the area is supposed to be spent on community parks often used for picnics or playgrounds. The Heritage Land Bank only has $2.5 million to spend, and it generally doesn't spend money on parks that don't generate revenue, said Dick Dworsky, head of the land bank.

Van Etten says he hasn't given up hope. Even if the money couldn't be raised right away, the little league could play somewhere else temporarily until the city reached a solution that's agreeable to everyone, he said.

"Lets just say if the little league were to go into Bicentennial Park, there would be winners and losers," Van Etten said. "If we were to acquire new park land, everyone comes out a winner."

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com or 257-4310. Reporter Tony Hopfinger can be reached at thopfinger@adn.com or 257-4344.

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Park lands needn't be sacrificed
Compass
By Jim Barr
(Published January 26, 2001)

Alaska may be a place of wide open spaces and untouched land stretching to the far horizons, but Anchorage is not. Much of our land has been developed, and the population is expected to grow by 100,000 people in the next 20 years. How we use what land remains, who gets it and for what purpose, is a key issue; one charged with hopes, dreams and emotions.

This underlies a current topic in the paper, at assembly meetings and among private citizens: new little league fields. For the past 25 years the Simonian Little League has played on private land owned by Art Simonian who graciously built the fields at his own expense. Two years ago Mr. Simonian, now in his 70s, sold that land, and the league must find another place to play ball. The Abbott Loop area, home to the Simonian League, has grown in population from around 5,000 to more than 17,000, with almost no new sports fields.

The league approached the municipality and both have now focused attention on the wooded southwest corner of Far North Bicentennial Park as a location for new fields, igniting a controversy over land use and community values that reaches beyond the immediate issue.

As citizens trying to both find land for sports fields and maintain the integrity of Far North Bicentennial Park, we have asked, and been asked, many questions.

For the first, we have an answer: Are we truly faced with a decision between developed and undeveloped parks, between open space and ball fields, between kids and moose? No. Absolutely not. We have looked at 36 possible sites within the boundaries of the Simonian League and found sound alternatives. We have visited sites, checked aerial photographs, researched ownership and status, contacted landowners, looked at municipal land and at acquisition options. Land is not plentiful, but we are nowhere near the point of fields or trees as some claim. The solutions are harder, require more effort, more thought, more time. Such effort is a small investment to ask of the municipality and ourselves.

Here are a few other questions that have been raised over Little League fields and Far North Bicentennial Park:

Has the municipality honestly pursued all options? Have the needs of all users been considered, including the more than 30 groups and activities now in Far North Bicentennial? Have demographics been considered? Where do the little league kids live, now and in the future, and how will they get to the ball fields? Are the fields accessible to all, including minorities and low income or single parent families? Is it safe to get there, are there bus stops and bike paths?

Does the location benefit the community as a whole, while meeting the needs of specific users? Is it near a community center? Can a park be used to buffer residential neighborhoods from industry? Will the park reclaim damaged or disturbed land and add value to its surroundings? Is it near a school? If open space is developed, will it be gone forever? Are we maintaining a balance of recreational opportunities, or favoring one over another? Does the solution bring different park users together, or does it further divide the community? Might private or governmental groups use an emotional issue like kids and baseball to manipulate the public for other reasons?

Are we stuck with old assumptions? Are there truly plenty of trees left, can other users really go elsewhere? Has input from a wide range of citizens been asked for and listened to? Are parks worth spending money to have?

What questions would you pose, and how would you get answers? Only by asking tougher, smarter questions and demanding thoughtful answers can we hope to build a future Anchorage that is livable for all.

Today, with effort, we can provide ball fields without developing open-space park land. We need both for a vital city, one that attracts and holds talented people. Perhaps we should use questions similar to these to evaluate other land use needs, reduce conflict and develop consensus as we build a 21st century Anchorage.

Jim Barr is a free-lance photographer who has worked throughout Alaska and the former owner of a management consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage.

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A feint to the left, a feint to the right .. watch that upper cut ... YOW it's a low blow! ... Once again, the ADN editorial board encourages development in the Park. But wait, those last 2 sentences.. are they saying "Just kidding"?

Opinion
(Published January 17, 2001)

Play ball, kids Park can spare a corner for baseball fields, if necessary

A January afternoon walk in the woods -- woods that may become baseball fields for the Simonian Little League -- makes it easy to understand why neighbors want to keep the trees.

Neighborhood traffic is all that maintains the trails in this southwest corner of Far North Bicentennial Park off Abbott Loop Road, just south of the trail from the Abbott Loop Trail Head and just north of Zodiac Manor subdivision. Step south off the wide greenbelt trail and you're into trails marked by moose tracks and boot prints. Tall spruce shelter game trails.

Perfect quiet doesn't exist here, but it's quiet enough to take a hiker out of the city, turn the rush of raven's wings into a stage whisper. Stillness is easy. You can watch a lazy snowflake fall from a sky tinged with pale yellow.

It's just as easy to imagine a lazy fly ball fall from a bright blue sky or a dust devil swirl across an infield.

One of the trails winds up a slope to the back yards of homes on Jupiter Drive. Just outside the yards there's a treehouse that is either a work in progress or a work in disrepair. Here the choice seems sweet: Kids can tumble out of the treehouse into spruce or sports, depending on what the city decides. A good deal either way.

Ball fields will change the neighborhood, but to give hundreds of young ballplayers needed fields doesn't mean scorched earth for Far North Bicentennial Park. The city greenbelt would remain; land just north of the ball fields would still be woods and wetlands. Neighbors might have to go a little farther to reach them, but green fields of play make a decent crossing.

Some argue that prying open a corner of the park will clear the way to further incursions that will change its nature from wilderness in the city to city park. That's understandable. But Anchorage will have more such tough choices to make as a growing population makes more demands on limited land -- as we saw last spring in the fight over the Hilltop Ski Area expansion.

In this case, if the choice boils down to taking a 20-acre bite of the woods so 500 boys and girls have a good place to play ball, let's build the fields. Anchorage is not the wilderness. Anchorage is a city. We're blessed that the wilderness still comes to call, and we should work to keep it that way -- but not thoughtlessly and not if it means a league of hundreds goes begging.

If, however, there's another way to give the youngsters a place to play ball and leave this land as is, so much the better. Is there other land available? Perhaps a land swap, or a private landowner willing to donate the acreage or work a deal with the city? We'd be glad to hear it.

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Mayor goes to bat for kids
Wuerch proposes building ball fields at Bicentennial Park

By Tim Pryor
Daily News Reporter
(Published December 30, 2000)

Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch is looking closely at building ball fields for the Simonian Little League and others on about 20 acres of wooded land in city-owned Far North Bicentennial Park.

The proposal, which Wuerch announced Friday, would end a nearly two-year effort by the league to find a new home, but it angers park lovers who prefer that the land stay the way it is.

The city would build a soccer field, three or four baseball diamonds and parking in a rectangular area near the southwest corner of the park next to Abbott Loop Road, said Jim Posey, who oversees city parks.

If Wuerch gets Assembly approval for funding, the city could start construction on the park this summer and complete the project by 2004, Posey said. First the issue will go before affected community councils and the city parks and recreation commission over the next three months, he said.

While some bond money is available to start the project, voters would have to approve more bonds to finish it.

Wuerch said he expects a mixed response from community councils on the matter.

"You can't have anything in this area without divided opinions," he said.

The Simonian Little league has searched for a new location for about the last 20 months, ever since builder Art Simonian announced the sale of the land -- behind the trailer park he owns -- where the league played.

But the league found there was little open space in the area bounded by Tudor Road, Abbott Loop Road, Arctic Boulevard and Abbott Road to support fields for the league's 400 to 500 boys and girls to play. That's the area the league draws players from.

"It's been a difficult process," said David Manzer, who heads up the Little League's effort to find new fields. "We're very encouraged the mayor is supporting a realistic solution to our problem."

Park lovers and neighbors like Pixie Siebe worry the mayor values the needs of one group at the expense of a much larger group, including dog walkers, joggers, horse riders and bicyclers in the summer and skiers in the winter.

No official trails pass through the proposed site, although some are next to it. Additionally, neighbors have created unofficial paths, said Siebe, who lives in the Zodiac Manor subdivision next to the proposed location.

"It's a really bad precedent to set," she said. "You're taking a piece of natural park area and giving to a sport that needs cleared land and flat land."

The city should be careful about clearing land in Bicentennial Park, which acts as a natural corridor for animals coming down from Chugach State Park, she said.

Wuerch said removing trees on the land proposed for the baseball fields is a necessary sacrifice. Not doing so would deny hundreds of young people a chance to play ball, he said.

"We are not short of trees," he said.

The proposal became the city's main choice after the Bureau of Land Management turned down another option of having the fields on its nearby Campbell Tract, Wuerch spokesman Dennis Fradley said. Still, the city hasn't ruled out the option, he said.

In October, the BLM wrote Manzer a letter saying the Campbell Tract wasn't available for "developed recreational purposes." The tract's management plan doesn't provide for ball fields, hockey rinks or golf courses, for example, it said.

The city doesn't know how much it would cost to build the ball fields, Posey said. But he said the city would have to pay for them with bonds.

Hopefully, though, the Simonian Little League and other little leagues will step forward and pay most of the development costs of the park, Posey said.

The Simonian Little League would be happy to contribute "sweat equity" and help find donors for the project, but the league hasn't worked out the details yet, Manzer said.

If the new fields open by 2004, the little league's games won't be disrupted, Manzer said. The new owner of Simonian's property has allowed the team to play at its current location until spring 2004, he said.

Reporter Tim Pryor can be reached at tpryor@adn.com.

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Copyright Friends of Bicentennial Park 2002
Paid for by Friends of Bicentennial Park, 11701 Hillside Drive, Anchorage, AK 99516; Tom Meacham, chair
Last revised: February 27, 2002.