The completion of the "new" Chittick Field was given a grand opening celebration attended by Mayor Bob Foster, 6th district Councilman Dee Andrews and other politicians, the press, area students and residents. The politicians basked in the limelight, gave speeches and mugged for the cameras. A Press Telegram editorial said "huge improvements" had were made to the park. Mayor Foster and Councilman Andrews gushed about a "state of art" facility, describing a football field, track, soccer fields, restrooms, bleachers, lights and parking as a "sports complex." The PT said Mayor Foster called the project an inspiring example of coordination and cooperation among many communities and levels of government.

No, it wasn't.

The "new" Chittick field renovation was a half hearted and belated attempt to make up for a colossal failure by Mayors O'Neill and Foster and Councilman Andrews and his Council colleagues. They collectively failed to do what was necessary to get Kroc Community Center built in one of the most underserved areas of the city. Because our elected leaders and civic leaders were asleep at the switch, the 6th district and City got a few soccer fields and a running track instead of the $140 million, 19 acre Kroc Center, a facility with Olympic size pools, a 1,000 seat Amphitheater, 450 seat auditorium, 4 indoor basketball courts, soccer and baseball fields, 30 classrooms, day care, art studios and more.

The Kroc Center was huge. Chittick Field is simply better than nothing.

Adding insult to injury, the Press Telegram tried to rewrite history and absolve the politicians of any responsibility in the loss of the Kroc Center. It told its readers in a news story (online April 23) that the Salvation Army "pulled the plug on the project after it was not able to raise enough money to trigger" the gift from the late Joan Kroc. Nope, not accurate.

The Salvation Army pulled the plug (after four years and spending sums for planning) because Long Beach failed to raise $15 million locally. The Salvation Army modestly expected L.A. County's second largest city to demonstrate community support before it would finance, build and manage the facility. That level of support wasn't forthcoming; part of the sum was raised privately but not enough.

In my opinion, there is no logical or reasonable excuse that those running Long Beach city government can give for failing to bring the full force of city government and civic involvement together to ensure the $15 million goal was reached to make the $140 million project for central Long Beach a reality. Those who failed escaped virtually any serious criticism from those now praising them.

Let's compare the woefully inadequate political and civic efforts surrounding the Kroc project with what occurred in February 2013 when city staff proposed to rebuild the Belmont Plaza pool after declaring it seismically unsafe and closing it. City staff proposed to rebuild the facility using public money. I and many others thought the proposal was terrific and not very controversial given how heavily used the pool is by residents from all over the city.

How little did I know! The new plans didn't include diving platforms. What occurred next should be a lesson for all of the underserved areas of the city.

Council members in ALL of the districts were inundated with telephone calls. Supporters jammed in-boxes with emails. Members of local and national diving programs made personal visits. And on Council night, they showed up and packed the Council Chambers. Supporters included past Olympic Champions, coaches and celebrities. Local diving participants showed up with signs and lined up to speak to the Council.

And they won.

Council members enthusiastically supported modifying the plan to include diving platforms and other upgrades. They thanked everyone for "educating them" on what was important and told staff to speed up the process.

Diving had suddenly become a top priority for the Mayor and City Council. A cost that had escalated to north of $60 million didn't faze them.

Nor did the matter of "finding" that very sizable sum. The potential cancellation or deferral of other projects already scheduled didn't cause any hesitation. The Mayor and Council had the will and found a way to get it done.

If only the Kroc Center in central Long Beach had the same support.

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