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Our youth must be served. Berkeley athletic facilities are abysmally small and inadequate for the needs of our city, and especially the students of Berkeley High School. This city (and School District) has a golden opportunity to expand our existing athletic facilities on the property around Derby Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way and show our young people that we care about them and want them to participate in healthy and productive activities to the fullest. 

However, the vote at the May 23rd City Council meeting, to preclude the possibility of building the largest possible athletic facility for our city was a slap in the face of our youth, especially Black, Brown and women who always get shortchanged in this society. 

The majority of the City Council voted against “studying” the possibility of closing Derby Street, between Milvia and MLK Jr. Way in order to build a regulation size baseball field. This would be only the second baseball field in all of Berkeley. This field would also provide the most space for all other field sports such as soccer, rugby, field hockey and softball. 

The majority of the City Council was in effect, saying: “One block of one street is more important than the youth of Berkeley. We refuse to even consider closing one block of Derby Street.” 

But why? Who is served by this vote? Let’s set the record straight. 

The comments from the public, at the City Council meeting, reported in the Daily Planet on Friday, May 26, are insightful. The Ecology Center Board of Directors President, Leona Benten, said her group endorses the “less intrusive project.” That is keeping Derby Street open and building smaller playing fields. Since when are children playing sports considered “intrusive” and to whom? 

Benten goes on to say that closing Derby Street could compromise the ecoliteracy program. Nothing could be further from the truth. Every plan proposed for the Derby Street property includes the same amount of space for a garden for our students. No planned educational program will be negatively impacted by closing Derby Street. 

One of the main arguments put forth by some of the public was that closing Derby Street would somehow negatively impact the Farmers’ Market that now occurs on Tuesdays at Derby and MLK. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. The plan presented to the City Council on May 23rd guaranteed the continuing existence of the Farmers’ Market on a permanent site on the property, just as large and just as visible to the public as the present site. The plan stated very clearly that the farmers market would not lose one day of operation while the park was under construction. 

For Penny Leff, co-manager of the Farmers’ Market, to state publicly that keeping Derby Street open would somehow save the Farmers’ Market and allow the School District to devote more space to community and school garden efforts is disingenuous at its best, and a complete fabrication at its worse. 

And what about the arguments put forth by City Councilmember Linda Maio? She stated that fencing in the playing field, by closing Derby Street, would be too upsetting to the neighbors. 

However, every plan put forward, keeping Derby Street open or closing Derby Street, included a fence around the athletic field. Any playing field built needs a fence, and all the plans call for trees and landscaping to hide the intrusive nature of a necessary fence for any ball field built on this site. 

So, what we really get down to is traffic and parking. The truth is that parking is provided in the proposal to close Derby Street (on the permanent site for the Farmers’ Market) and a traffic study was included in the use of the $65,000 that was rejected by the majority of the City Council. 

The majority of the City Council felt that these issues could not be worked out and that as a consequence the youth of our community must suffer. They rejected an offer from the School Board for $65,000 to “study” ways to mitigate the negative impact on the community that might occur if Derby Street were closed. 

Why did the City Council reject the offer from the School District to “study” closing Derby Street? 

I believe every argument put forth against the closing of Derby Street and the building of a full size baseball field by the public and the City Councilmembers were meager window dressings for petty and shortsighted interests of some people in this city outweighing the needs of our youth, the students of Berkeley High School and the larger community. 

There is still time to reverse this horrendous decision on the part of the City Council. Every study that has focused on the effect of organized athletics on any and all youth has proven the following: Athletic participation has a lasting positive effect on kids. It increases self-confidence. It teaches teamwork and cooperation. It provides wholesome activity. And it positively impacts their future. This is so for all youth, not a selected few. 

The final EIR report on the use of this land must still be brought back to the City Council for a vote after a review and recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission. The youth of Berkeley may yet be served as may the larger community. 

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Terry Doran is vice president of the Board of Education. He is also a retired Berkeley High School teacher.