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With regard to closing Derby Street, it doesn’t serve the community to have the Berkeley Daily Planet highlighting letters (such as Dorothy Bryant’s and Peter Schorer’s) which give the illusion of informed knowledge but in truth are factually inaccurate. Given that the Daily Planet is used by many of us to become educated about local issues, letters like these do us all a disservice.  

What is being proposed is a multi-purpose athletic field, which includes a full-size baseball field. No lights or sound system has been proposed or advocated by BHS or any other user group. In fact, the Association of Sports Field Users (the group that represents most of the non-BUSD field users in Berkeley) is opposed to lights for general community use at this site. Stat ements about sound systems and “seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. 365 days a year” are factually inaccurate.  

The field will be used for BHS girls’ field hockey and boys’ football in the fall, BHS girls’ and boys’ soccer in the winter, BHS baseball and rugby in the spring, and a multitude of potential BHS and non-BHS uses in the summer. Most likely on Saturdays and Sundays during the fall the field will be used by local youth and adult soccer groups and the community; during the spring the field will most likely be used by youth baseball/softball, youth lacrosse, youth rugby, adult soccer, adult softball/baseball and community use. Statements that this facility will “be used by only about 40 male high school students, plus the various adult teams (“be erballers”)” is not only factually inaccurate but insulting as well. Those adult “beerballers” include women’s rugby, women’s and men’s soccer, softball and baseball players who grew up playing these sports as children—your children. Paw through the trash at any athletic field and you are more likely to find empty bottles of water and Gator-Aid than a bottle of beer.  

The field being fenced and locked has nothing to do with whether Derby is open or closed or its use as a hardball field. The reason for BU SD to fence and lock a field has to do with controlling access and liability. It makes no difference what sport is played or how the field is physically configured, BUSD is not going to have kids kicking soccer balls that might hit the front windshield of a passing car nor are they going to have kids running into the street chasing a ball and getting hit by that same passing car. So even if Derby remains open and no baseball field is built, BUSD will fence the field.  

The letters go on to complain about the noise and traffic and vandalism that will be generated by a baseball field. I would welcome anyone to explain to me or the other readers of the Planet why a high school game of baseball will bring more noise and traffic than a high school game of socc er, rugby or lacrosse. As for vandalism, areas around playing fields actually show a lower crime and vandalism rate mostly because they are occupied. If you had a choice of breaking into a car to steal a radio would you choose a car parked next to 45 chil dren and adults playing a game or would you choose a car in a more isolated location? 

As for the Farmer’s Market, it will not be lost. Instead it will be relocated along MKL to a more highly visible and traffic-friendly location. It will be a better phys ical facility than the Farmer’s Market currently occupies.  

The writers correctly note that BUSD would like to generate income by renting the field to outside users when BUSD is not using it and one writer goes on to state “this is a dubious semi-commerc ial use of school land that will be closed to use by anyone but the Berkeley High baseball team and renters from outside Berkeley.” Everyone reading this should understand that all City of Berkeley and BUSD school fields charge user fees or demand “in kin d” services for reserved slots. These fees are used to help pay for the maintenance of the fields. This is a long-standing policy and not unique to Berkeley. This is an approach that is taken by almost every municipality and school district in the San Fra ncisco Bay Area. And, in contrast to what the writer states, most of these groups are not from outside Berkeley. They include local youth soccer, girl’s softball, Little League baseball, youth rugby, etc.  

“The total cost of the hardball field installati on is estimated to be $2-3 million. (This in a time when the city is facing major budget deficits.)” As someone who has costed and developed nine playing fields, nobody knows what this project is going to cost until plans are developed and costed out. And while the City of Berkeley may be facing budget deficits, this project is being paid for out of a BUSD voter approved capital budget with funds earmarked for this specific project. 

The costs for the project have nothing to do with the City of Berkeley.  

Finally there are the statements of a proposed land swap with San Pablo Park and “they want another city-wide facility—but not in their neighborhood.” And “the truth is there are several good alternative locations.” Actually, as someone who has been inv olved in developing playing fields for almost 15 years, the truth is there are no good alternative locations. Building a multi-purpose field which includes a baseball field that is within walking distance of the high school seems to make much more practic al sense than having high school teams drive past Derby to San Pablo Park which is miles away from the school.  

And please tell all of us why people living around San Pablo Park should continue to bear what are the falsely perceived evils of BHS baseball while the people living around Derby Street should be treated differently? Many of us living in Berkeley (not just those who live around Iceland and the Alternative High School) are impacted, and I would argue much more so, by community serving facilitie s such as Alta Bates, BART stations, UC, commercial areas, etc. It sort of goes with living in an urban area.  

So let us all get past the ill informed and incendiary talk and start having a discussion about what is real.  

Doug Fielding is a chairpers on for the Association of Sports Field Users.›