Residents could have talked to AYSO

My home is down the street from Kaiser Sports Field. As I drive

around the Kaiser neighborhood, I see five, six -- as many as seven

-- new homes on a lot that just a few years ago had one home on it.

These new homes all have young families with children that want to

play soccer and baseball.

The Kaiser problem lies with the Costa Mesa City Council, not with

the volunteer youth groups that use the fields. It’s not the

Associated Youth Soccer Organization who’s allowing the overcrowding

of east Costa Mesa. Overcrowded sports fields is a citywide problem

-- just ask the residents near TeWinkle school and TeWinkle Park.

The simple answer is more sports fields -- and I mean a lot more.

On the far Westside of the city is Fairview Park, which is probably

the best spot for new, lighted soccer, baseball and softball fields.

It has the Santa Ana River to the west and Estancia High School

sports fields to the south.

The unhappy residents and the youth sports groups must work

together to force the city to revisit Fairview Park as a sports

complex.

CHARLES MASSINGILL

Newport Beach

The group of parent volunteers that make up Associated Youth

Soccer Organization Region 97 care about our community. We all live

in the same neighborhoods, our kids attend these same schools (my

12-year-old just graduated from Kaiser), and we are active in our own

community. We care, and treat the facilities we use with great

respect.

We are all caught totally off guard with the concerns expressed by

Barbara Guy and Cheryl Carson in your article -- since neither of

them has ever contacted our organization. We would have done anything

within our power to help alleviate their concerns. All the parents I

know would not tolerate having their kids use any open space as a

bathroom.

Please understand that groups other than AYSO also use the fields

from time to time, and as I understand, the field use is much less

than in the past. AYSO is only able to use the fields through a

permit facilitated by the joint-use agreement with the City of Costa

Mesa and Kaiser School.

After so many of us have worked so hard under very difficult

circumstances this summer, it is very disheartening that the Pilot

choose to publish another negative article versus mentioning any of

the benefits to our kids and community. Thank you for your

consideration.

Sincerely,

JOHN AND SHERI PARKS

Costa Mesa

Barbara Guy and Cheryl Carson should be ashamed of themselves.

They want to limit Kaiser weekend athletic events to only a few days

per month so that they can “restore the quality of life in their

neighborhood,” they say.

Whose lives are they watching out for? Their own lives or the

lives of the children in our community? How arrogant and

presumptuous.

I happen to live near Harper School, the site of numerous soccer

games every Saturday and many practice sessions throughout the week.

I can’t imagine a more joyful sound on a weekend morning than the

voices of young children having fun playing soccer. Children sharing

in the strategies of the game and parents enthusiastically supporting

the teams. Who would really find that to be a “problem?”

Guy is appalled because she feels that parents are encouraging

their children to urinate in the field adjacent to her home. Come

again? I have two daughters, 11 and 14, and I couldn’t persuade

either one of them -- or anyone they know for that matter -- to do

such a thing. Not even for a one-year pass to Disneyland!

I don’t buy it. Actually, let me put that in a language the

naysayers might better understand: Bah, humbug!!

Our community should encourage and support -- in every way we can

-- team sports and activities for our children. That should be a

common commitment in any family community.

STEVE MACLEOD

Costa Mesa

I am writing in response to the article about problems with our

community kids using the Kaiser school fields for Associated Youth

Soccer Organization activities. If Barbara Guy and Cheryl Carson had

communicated their concerns with AYSO, we could have discussed the

issues. We are good neighbors willing to listen to residents. All

they have to do is make an effort and call.

I fully understand their concern for the noise, but they were well

aware of what they were moving into when they purchased their

property. These fields were there, being used in the same capacity,

before Sycamore Park was even built. Due to similar complaints in the

past, AYSO has compromised the usage of this field and are now

playing on only three fields. In fact, we are using these fields even

less this year than previous years. There is no more noise now than

any other time.

The city of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa should not put any other

restrictions on our youth programs. We are always struggling to get

enough usage out of the baseball and soccer fields in both cities.

I’m appalled by the attempt to further curtail usage of our city’s

facilities, and although we live in one of the most affluent

communities in Orange County, we don’t come close to having the nice

facilities that our neighboring cities do.

If anything, we need more usage, we need lighted fields for

evening play, we need public restroom improvements, we need more

field maintenance by the city, etc. Let’s utilize more of our cities

spending for the youth of our community and let’s keep open lines of

communication about the issues!

CHRIS ROHAN

Costa Mesa

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Rohan is assistant commissioner for AYSO Region

97.