Sports fields should take center stage

Earlier this month, we called on the Costa Mesa City Council to approve more lights for the fields at the Farm Sports Complex. The city’s parks and recreation commission ? in a divided vote ? has asked the council to set aside $1 million in next year’s budget for the project. The work has wide support among parents and volunteers involved in the city’s many youth sports leagues. Opposition is coming from the Farm’s neighbors, who say the additional lights will hurt their quality of life. The council is set to consider its budget in June.

During the past week it has become clear that this issue, which is focused on a few fields at the Farm, is one of much greater importance to the community. Parks commission chairwoman Wendy Leece, who voted against adding the lights at the Farm, wrote a commentary for the Pilot on May 11, which elicited strong responses ? several of which are printed on today’s Forum page. The problem is simple enough: Newport-Mesa young people don’t have enough places to play organized sports. The answer, however, appears to be any- thing but simple. And adding two lighted fields at the Farm, while a step toward a solution, also looks to be just the first of many needed steps the community needs to make.

The undercurrent of Leece’s commentary and responses to it is the coming fall City Council elections. Although Costa Mesa’s planned immigration enforcement is obviously going to be an issue, the city will be better off if the lack of playing fields finds a place center stage during the race. Perhaps a candidate even will emerge with a thoughtful and reasonable plan to fix the problem. Surely that person would find much support among voters who happen to have kids involved in sports.