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Manhattan’s new park is ready to play ball
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Kids enjoying a game of dodgeball Saturday at the new Marine Park. Photo courtesy of the city of Manhattan Beach |
by Dan Bialek
The city celebrated the opening of its newest playing fields, the Marine Avenue Park, last Saturday.
The park, boasting three baseball diamonds, two of which can be used as one regulation-size soccer field, is located near Aviation Boulevard and Marine Avenue. It was built on land bought two years ago by the city from TRW’s Space and Electronics Group.
Mayor Tim Lilligren made the park’s opening presentation, and when he finished it was time to play ball. However, it wasn’t any of the city’s 1,700 Little Leaguers or 3,000 AYSO players who took the turf to face off against each other. Instead, the members of the Manhattan Beach City Council and Beach Cities Health District challenged officials from the Manhattan Beach Little League and local AYSO league to an old-fashioned softball game.
The sports associations’ teams were triumphant over the city council and health district team, but a good time was had by all.
The park was built on seven acres of land purchased from TRW’s Space and Electronics Group back in 1999 using surplus money from city’s general fund. The city then cut a deal with the Beach Cities Health District, selling the district the land and leasing it back for the interest on the $7.3 million land price. The city retained the option of buying back the land for the cost of their initial investment anytime over the next 50 years. Six acres of the land were used for playing fields, and the health district will begin construction of a sport facility on the remaining acre sometime in the coming year.
The park features state-of-the-art lights that reduce glare onto the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as an underground drainage system to keep the park from flooding when it rains. The facility contains 30 parking spaces and additional parking will be available weekdays after 5 p.m. and all day weekends at TRW’s east and west parking lots. ER