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San Rafael little league site at risk
Its been quite a field of dreams for generations of children. But now, Las Gallinas Field in San Rafael could be sold and thats causing concern for many in the community.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - Las Gallinas Field, on an eight-acre parcel of land owned by San Rafael City Schools, has hosted baseball teams for more than 70 years and is used by the Galinas Valley Little league, other players and the public in general. But now, there is real fear the property may be sold or leased.
The field is one of four parcels that the school system has determined is surplus land that it could lease or sell.
Non-profits and public agencies have until May 30 to express their interest or offers to get it at a public interest discount.
"That's why we did a voluntary Notice of Priority Offering to non-profits and public agencies to give those folks an opportunity to reach out to us," said Robert Marcucci, San Rafael School District Assistant Superintendent for Business.
Model Released: Baseball bat and ball on base plate (Photo by Markus Boesch/Getty Images)
If no deal is made by the end of August, the board could offer the property to the general real estate market. This is upsetting to the little league, its players, parents and grandparents who voluntarily maintain it. "We would love the opportunity to preserve this space long term, even if it's not gonna be used for a school site," said Gallinas Valley Little President John Baker.
The possible change is also upsetting to a neighbor we met walking his dog on the property. "A huge asset to the community here. The baseball field is used almost every day during the spring and summer," said Ed Galvez.
Also on the property, a daycare center for this widely diverse community. "The school allows low-income families that have kids to bring their kids here so that they can work," said Galvez.
And, what of the school board? "The board is well aware of the importance of that property to the community," said the district’s Marcucci.
No decision has been made, but eight acres of land in Marin is extremely valuable should the Board decide to cash in or get higher-paying tenants. "They could do nothing. Right? That's a totally acceptable outcome of this to go with status quo," said Marcucci.
Mom, volunteer & Little League board member Lisa Michael loves the idea of the status quo.
"This is a field that the older kids play at and we should be looking at our next generation and generations to come. We have a huge variety of [ethnicities], religions, moms, dads, kids. We welcome everybody here where everybody meets everybody to hand out after the game is over," said Michael.
For seven decades and countless kids, boys and girls, this has been like every other community diamond — a field of dreams.