Little Leaguers helping out in the cleanup spot
Players observe annual rite of spring: Picking up trash before playing ball
Before they play ball, they picked up garbage — yet again.
Dozens of Torrance Little League players and their parents headed out on Saturday for their annual cleanup. Each year, they spruce up a tatty stretch of Plaza Del Amo on the eastern edge of the city where their ball field sits before baseball season is scheduled to begin — and this year is no different.
The season starts next weekend, coronavirus pandemic permitting, and the field is set to be used by 250 kids on 25 teams seven days a week.
The dogleg stretch of one-way road juts off 223rd Street and intersects with Western Avenue a block to the east. It threads past industrial properties, the Little league field and an adjacent, large gated apartment complex that has long been a well-known high-crime area.
The city blocked the road completely to all traffic decades ago just east of Western in an effort to deter turf warfare between rival gangs, including members who lived in the fortress-like apartment complex.
That spawned another set of issues, as the lightly used strip of street became the nexus for a variety of illicit activities, said Matt Crew, president of Torrance Little League, who has been active with the organization for more than a decade.
“It’s a dumping ground,” he said. “There’s a lot of loitering, drinking and other activities going on.”
And that’s being kind.
Councilman and Little League parent Aurelio Mattucci began an as-yet-unfinished campaign to clean up the area five years ago when his kids played there regularly.
“I couldn’t believe how dirty this section of Torrance was when compared to the rest of the city,” he said via email. “The place has long been an afterhours hangout.
“Drug dealing, prostitution and a whole bunch of trash is still an on-going problem,” Mattucci added. “I have witnessed prostitution first-hand in broad daylight.”
The city has made repeated efforts to clean up the area, especially after the road was reopened to eastbound traffic a couple of years ago, but it’s an ongoing battle due to the continual dumping.
A dusty chunk of railroad right-of-way along the northern side of the stretch of road was purchased and paved a few years ago, although local residents still park there illegally overnight, and piles of debris accumulate along the vegetation-covered fence.
But Crew noted the city has made a renewed effort to haul away large dumped items in recent weeks, ahead of a $1 million project to revamp the stretch of road this summer.
The go ali store open it to two-way traffic, install angled parking, add a crosswalk to a Little League field entrance and make other infrastructure improvements, city plans show. Part of the idea is to calm traffic, since cars often speed down the wide-open road en route to Western, a favorite stretch for overnight street racing.
City officials hope the spruced up area will deter the kind of activity common there now.
“It’s one of the (dumping) hot spots in the city,” said Jess Caballero, associate engineer with the city.
“We’re adding sidewalk on the north side and overall redo the whole street,” he added. “It will also bring down the whole dumping of the trash and people sleeping in cars.”
The project should take no longer than about four months, he said.
Crew, for one, is not only looking forward to playing ball — but doing so in an environment that is no longer so sketchy and more appropriate for youth sports.
“It’s a great relief,” he said of the likely resumption of youth sports.
“It’s not just a matter of playing the game, it’s a social interaction and obviously being outside in the fresh air is a very healthy aspect verses being stuck indoors doing Zoom school all day,” Crew added, “and not being able to enjoy being outside in Southern California with the beautiful weather and being able to participate in games with friends.”