Save San Carlos Parks: Experts Weigh in on Potential Dangers of Artificial Turf Fields

Monday, March 2, 2009

Experts Weigh in on Potential Dangers of Artificial Turf Fields

Burn injuries that have increased risk of infection, exposure to a myriad of toxins in the crumb rubber that are then carried off the field and into homes with small children are causing parents to worry about the wide scale use of synthetic turf fields. Click here.

Help us keep ALL our parks open!

San Carlos City Council will vote February 8 to select a synthetic turf installer for Highlands Park - committing over $2 million scarce dollars to one project while multiple parks are slated to be closed and fenced off.

It's urgent for the community to speak out now - before it's too late - to save all our parks, to use Measure G funds to keep all our parks open and functional.

Where will our children play? What will happen to our sports leagues? Speak out against the vote to spend over $2 million on one synthetic turf field, when our budget is cut to the bone, parks will be closed, and we have dramatically cut police, fire and other essential services.

Sign up for email updates at SaveSanCarlosParks@yahoo.com.

Contact San Carlos City Council Members and let them know what you think. Encourage your friends, too:
Mayor Randy Royce rroyce@cityofsancarlos.org
Bob Grassilli bgrassilli@cityofsancarlos.org
Matt Grocott mgrocott@cityofsancarlos.org
Omar Ahmad oahmad@cityofsancarlos.org
Andy Klein aklein@cityofsancarlos.org

Parks & Rec Director Doug Long dlong@cityofsancarlos.org
Planning Manager Deborah Nelson dnelson@cityofsancarlos.org

Can you post a yard sign? Have other ideas? Contact us at SaveSanCarlosParks@yahoo.com.

Why should you get involved?

We urgently need your help. San Carlos' City Council will vote Monday, April 13, 2009, to tear out the beautiful grass field and install synthetic turf at Highlands Park...as a test case for installing synthetic turf at MOST San Carlos parks, according to the Parks Master Plan. Our beautiful community park is the wrong place to put a synthetic field. We need people from across San Carlos to voice their opposition, not just Highlands neighbors. Could you and your friends and neighbors help us? Synthetic turf is not just an irresponsible waste of the city's money, it is also an environmental and children's health hazard that will cost us far more and destroy our beautiful parkland. We must speak out on this issue:

The cost of the synthetic field, estimated at $2.4 million, is enough to put quality grass fields at Highlands, Crestview and Heather School field (and all could be full-sized), a more meaningful solution to our fields shortage.
Park & Rec's cost comparisons do not include the replacement costs for synthetic at the end of its 8 year life, nor the disposal costs for the old synthetic material (tire rubber is classified as hazardous waste).
Park & Rec's cost estimates inflate the installation and maintenence costs for grass, and underestimate the maintenance costs for synthetic, which must be frequently raked, disinfected with powerful chemicals, and even watered to keep the heat and toxic dust down.

Newer grass species are extremely drought tolerant, and there are now irrigation systems that only water when it is needed, not mid-day as the Park and Rec Dept is currently doing.
San Carlos residents voiced preferences in the recent Park and Rec survey for many improvements and additions to our parks, including better bathrooms, more trails, a community pool and so on. Only 2% mentioned synthetic turf.
It is squandering precious resources to take a multi-use park like Highlands and install a surface that must be fenced off from the public and used only for league sports.

Grass produces oxygen, is cooling and psychologically soothing. It absorbs rain and replenishes the aquifir. Synthetic turf can heat up to 140 degrees F on a mild sunny day in the 70s. It drains toxic chemicals from the tire rubber and plastic into the Bay. It is a known breeding ground for staph and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as MRSA.

The Highlands neighborhood streets can not support doubled usage over longer hours. This is not a commercial or retail area, it consists of homes with many small children and elderly people alike.

California Law mandates a study of health and environmental impacts of synthetic turf. Ongoing now, that study is due Sept. 2010. Shouldn't we wait for the results of that study?

New Jersey State officials closed two synthetic fields after authorities found the lead level in the turf was 10 times the amount of lead allowed in soil. Lead causes brain damage and other illnesses, particularly in children. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has begun investigating potential hazards from lead in synthetic fields across the country. Polycarbonate plastics, previously believed to be safe and used even in baby bottles, are now found to be negatively affecting children's growth and development. We know that recycled tire rubber, used in synthetic fields' "infill," is loaded with heavy metals and other toxins. This too is a potential target for the CPSC to study, possibly leading to a field that is permanently closed and useless to field sports and other recreation as well.
San Carlos parks are particularly ill-suited for this material, as they incorporate toddler playgrounds and many young children and their families enjoy multiple sports and unstructured play there.
Does the City of San Carlos really want to take on the liability for damage to children's health? Should our city install a material that will potentially be banned in the near future - shutting down the park to all uses? Where, then, will we find the funds to remove it and replace it again with grass? Where will we find the funds to dispose of the 250 tons of toxic waste? This blog is a collection of research on the risks and costs of synthetic turf.

Save San Carlos Parks

Monday, March 2, 2009

Experts Weigh in on Potential Dangers of Artificial Turf Fields

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