Bleed Dodger Blue. Feel Sustainably Green.
Oct 05, 2009
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Rooting for the Los Angeles Dodgers is almost like begging for physical abuse in the Bay Area, where I grew up. Well, now that my favorite adopted baseball team (I'm not abandoning the Oakland A's, despite their recent sad performance), is the Dodgers, let me rave about this organization. After all, with all the debate over energy efficiency and global warming, I need some light-hearted fare once in a while. Plus the Dodgers just won their division after a late-season scare, so let's celebrate!
First of all, Dodger Stadium. Built in the early 1960s, it's the only example of mid-century stadium architecture at a time when baseball teams are going for that stale retro brick look. Since the Dodgers own the property and are profiting quite well from it, there's no indication that we'll have a new stadium soon, thankfully--although fans are quick to snatch up seats and other items from old sports venues, I cringe when I think of where all that demolition waste may go. Despite the fact that it's now one of the oldest ballparks currently in use, we'll have it for a while--which is great because it makes for a perfect visit to LA.
The Dodgers' owners, the McCourt family, are updating the stadium, which includes planting trees and drought-resistant plants around the ballpark. Not only are the McCourts revamping Dodger Stadium so that it's a place for families to visit year-round, many of the team facilities, restaurants, and offices will incorporate building materials and practices that are LEED certified. Management will install fixtures that will save millions of water a year, promote better recycling practices, and replace most lighting in order to reduce energy consumption.
Finally, the food. For what it's worth, most vegetarian food sites rave about the Dodgers' menu, and PETA actually gave it an honorable mention (for some reason the Philadelphia ballpark made #1, which makes me shake my head). You can get veggie burgers, veggie dogs, sushi (love it but at a ballpark? That's just odd!) salads, and of course . . . peanuts. Before or after the game, vegetarian and even raw vegan options are abundant for a couple miles along Sunset Boulevard going west . . . and you can also bring most food items into the game, as long as it's not something that turn into a projectile that can be hurled to the field.
The big disappointment? Transportation to Chavez Ravine, the stadium's neighborhood. If you live near Sunset Boulevard, the buses are pretty seamless. Unfortunately, rail options are non-existent, but this reflects LA Metro's genius in not having any rail go to the LA Coliseum, the Home Depot Center, or most absurdly . . . LAX. The Dodgers' name emanates from the team's early days in Brooklyn when trolleys crossed all over the borough, hence the team's name, the Trolley Dodgers. The team eventually lopped off "trolley" from the nickname. Thankfully, this was a change from the original name, the Brooklyn Superbas (I had to verify this on a few web sites thinking this was a typo).
Finally, you have to admire LA's chutzpah in not bending over backwards to accommodate the NFL. At a time where smaller municipalities are bankrupting themselves to build pricey sports facilities at taxpayers' expense, Los Angeles has told the NFL that if they want a team here . . . they can build the stadium.
Have you been to a Dodger game lately? Was there anything you saw that you wish would improve in order to reduce waste? Or is the fact that I'm starting the week talking about a sports team sustainability heresy?
