During last year’s budget deliberations, Redondo Beach Councilman Steve Aspel had a pet project he was passionate about: the dilapidated bleachers at the Alta Vista baseball and softball fields. He railed on, so to speak, about the sorry state of the old wooden bleachers, noting that spectators often left with splinters in their derrieres.
The council appropriated $20,000 to rebuild the bleachers, but six months later the bids came back and it became apparent that the appropriation was at least $3,000 short. Rather than wade through the bureaucratic process to add another $3,000, Aspel had a different idea.
“I didn’t want to wait another six months to get this done,” he said.
He decided to tap into the spirit of volunteerism that has been prevalent in Redondo of late. Volunteers restored the city’s historic Morrell House over the last several years and last September completely rebuilt injured LAPD Officer Kristina Ripati’s home in seven days for the television show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
So Aspel recruited a group of parents to come out and rebuild the bleachers. He asked builder Gary Lane, who owns Lane Building Design, to lead the effort. He hoped Lane, since he lives near the field and coaches a Redondo Sunset Little League team, would supervise the project. Lane agreed.
Last Friday, Lane and Aspel planned to get the project rolling and then finish it up with a larger group of volunteers over the weekend. Lane, however, showed up with a crew of employees.
“He did a good thing,” Aspel said. “He paid eight employees out of his own pocket. The city didn’t reimburse him a dime for that.”
“I figured we might as well just get it done,” Lane said.
The bleachers were constructed by the end of the day. Thirty volunteers showed up the next day to paint and to lay pipe for new sprinklers and rebuild fences.
Aspel said the moral of the story is twofold: volunteerism is alive and well, and “not all developers are knuckleheads.”
“There are still a few good ones,” Lane said, chuckling. “We are not all bad guys.” ER