the dodger stadium story
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The Dodger Stadium Story. Dodger's Game!. This Saturday we are going to a Dodger's baseball game in Los Angeles. The Dodger stadium is very, very large. It covers 315 acres which is about the size of five Dunn School campuses. The stadium can seat 56,000 people !. Stadium History. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Dodger Stadium
Story
Dodger's Game!
This Saturday we are going to a Dodger's
baseball game in Los Angeles.
The Dodger stadium is very, very large. It
covers 315 acres which is about the size of five Dunn School campuses. The stadium can seat
56,000 people !
Stadium History
Built in 1962, the Dodger Stadium is the third oldest stadium in Major League
Baseball. It is set in a beautiful location—Chavez
Ravine—that overlooks downtown LA to the south
and the San Gabriel mountains to the north.
Every stadium takes a lot of money, energy and
planning to build, but the Dodger Stadium's history
has a sad side to it.
The Community
Before the stadium was built, there was an tight-knit
Mexican-American community in Chavez Ravine. Most
people had lived with their families in the area for 40
years or more.
The community was very healthy and happy. Chavez Ravine was different from
other places in Los Angeles because it felt like the
countryside: people grew gardens, had chickens, herded sheep, and were
friendly with their neighbors.
LA was Changing• But many people living in Los Angeles did not
appreciate the community. They thought the area was poor and old. They wanted to build new buildings to make Los Angeles a "world-class" city like New York.
Forced OutThe city of Los Angeles decided to tear down
people's houses so they could build new apartment
buildings. They tried to convince people to move
out of their homes. When people did not want to move, the government
tricked or forced people to move. The city promised people that they would
have new homes…but the new housing was never built. Many people who
moved out of Chavez Ravine were left homeless. Their
neighborhood was destroyed.
Fighting BackThe people of Chavez Ravine fought the Los
Angeles government for a long time. But they
did not win. In the end, 1,200 families had to
move, and their homes were destroyed. Their schools were torn down and people had to move away from their friends.
For some families, it took three generations to recover from being
driven out of their home.
No New Housing
Although there were plans to build new
housing, the housing was never built.
Instead, the city of Los Angeles decided to give the land to the Dodgers to build a
stadium.
People Remember
People who were forced to leave their
homes were very angry. Some of the
people whose homes were destroyed have
never attended a Dodger's game, and the sad story of how people were evicted from their homes is
still told in many families today.
Things to Think About
What did the stadium bring to the city of Los Angeles that was more important
than the community's needs?
Why is this story significant?
Describe another example of a government over-riding a
community's needs.
Can you think of a solution that would have been better for everyone? Describe your
solution.
Things to Think About 2If you were a city planner,
what kinds of things do you need to consider in order to
take care of everyone's needs?
Do you think the Chavez Ravine community would have survived if the new housing had been built?
SourcesClick icon to add picture
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chavezravine/cr.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedailymirror/2009/05/eric-avila-is-an-associate-professor-of-chicano-studies-history-and-urban-planning-at-ucla-his-book-popular-culture-in-the.html
http://articles.latimes.com/print/2008/mar/29/sports/sp-ravine29