{"id":3700,"date":"2009-06-11T06:25:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/long-beach-legends-lend-support-to-ambitious-kroc-center-project\/"},"modified":"2009-06-11T06:25:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T06:25:00","slug":"long-beach-legends-lend-support-to-ambitious-kroc-center-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/long-beach-legends-lend-support-to-ambitious-kroc-center-project","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Legends Lend Support To Ambitious Kroc Center Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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All photos by Shar Higa<\/em><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve seen Chittick Field (formerly known as Hamilton Bowl) recently, you know that it represents a lot of problems with Long Beach\u2019s Sixth District.  Graffiti covers the surrounding walls, and the playing surface (once used for baseball and softball, now for soccer) is a gritty dirt.  Yet if all goes according to plan, two years from now, that hole in the ground could be a beacon of hope for Long Beach\u2019s Eastside, if plans to construct a Kroc Center come to fruition.<\/p>\n

The Center would be the site of world-class pools, soccer fields, and basketball courts, as well as provide space for a performing arts center and class rooms.  In other words, it would turn next to nothing, into everything.  Standing between the dust bowl and this incredible vision for the future is about $17 million of the $140 million needed to build the center.  The rest of the funds will be supplied by the Kroc Fund, and the Salvation Army–$8 million has already been raised.<\/p>\n

Two of the Sixth District\u2019s native sons, former NFL player Willie McGinest and recording superstar Snoop Dogg, joined councilman Dee Andrews and LB Salvation Army\u2019s Dave Neary at a press conference yesterday to discuss how to move this project forward, as well as what it would mean to one of the city\u2019s poorest areas.  \u201cThis project reflects all <\/em>aspects of the community,\u201d said Andrews.  \u201cAnd we\u2019re taking one giant leap with the help of Snoop and Willie.\u201dSnoop provided an incredibly large step, with a $5 million in-kind donation\u2014he\u2019s also going to record a single to be available for download, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Kroc fund, as well as put on a benefit concert in the future.  \u201cThis is a special project,\u201d said Snoop.  \u201cThis is something I\u2019ve wanted for a long time.  This gives the kids something to do all the time<\/em>.\u201d He talked about the trouble local youth can get into when seasonal activities such as pop warner football reach their dead period.  \u201cNow,\u201d he said, \u201cThere\u2019ll be no idle time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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McGinest echoed his sentiment that this Kroc Center won\u2019t just be a world-class sports, music, and arts facility, but an important step in community improvement.  \u201cRight now it\u2019s a war zone out there, and we\u2019re losing a lot of kids.\u201d  He referred to he and Snoop as \u201cA couple kids who grew up in the Sixth District,\u201d and said, \u201cThis is a dream come true for kids like us.  It\u2019s about time.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGinest grew up playing youth baseball with the Rangers in what was then known as Hamilton Bowl, and recalled how dirty everything would get when the wind picked up.  \u201cAnd nobody wanted to slide,\u201d he said.  Looking at the building plans behind him during the press conference, he said, \u201cYou can\u2019t even imagine this with what\u2019s there now.  It looks like a magical world compared to what\u2019s there now.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Neary, the EIR will be completed shortly, and ground-breaking could occur as early as August if the funds are raised.  If you\u2019re interested in donating, please contact Ivy Leeson with the Salvation Army at Ivy.Leeson@usw.salvationarmy.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a longtime resident, this may seem like a familiar story, with a preordained unhappy ending\u2014something great almost happens for the community, but falls apart in the end.  According to Andrews, the potential good from this project is too great to allow it to do so, which is why he\u2019s involving two of Long Beach\u2019s most influential native sons.  \u201cCan this be a reality?\u201d he asked.  \u201cYes, it can.  Be with us: we promise we\u2019ll take it to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Snoop Dogg and Willie McGinest were on hand to talk about how this project could change the Eastside, and all of Long Beach, for the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3700"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=3700"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}