Here is an interesting clip from CBS News in California concerning an investigation into the safety of artificial turf athletic fields in California.
The story highlights three main concerns: carcinogens, heat, and bacteria.
The good news for California is that the health risks are under investigation.
Can we say the same for Montgomery County?
fyi from the MCCPTA bulletin (below).
ReplyDeleteMCCPTA Information Forum about Artificial Turf
In response to ongoing concerns and questions about artificial turf, MCCPTA will be sponsoring an information forum for PTA members and interested school community members. The overall goal is to share information from both sides of the issue related to artificial turf versus natural turf. MCCPTA has not taken a position on artificial turf, so the purpose of the forum is informational and not to advocate for one side or the other. We are interested in the overall safety and health aspects of both turfs.
MCCPTA has reserved the date of October 7 from 7:00- 9:00 PM in the Carver Auditorium. Elected officials have been invited to attend.
The MCCPTA Safety Committee chaired by Laurie Halverson and The MCCPTA Health Committee chaired by Susan Young will be the contacts for this event. Contact information is provided below.
MCCPTA Safety Committee - Laurie Halverson, Chair
lauriehalverson@ verizon.net
MCCPTA Health Committee - Susan Young, Chair
susan@youngspa. com
The notes from this forum were posted at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mccpta.com/safety_dir/Safe_Comm_Report_Nov09.pdf
They did a nice job of summarizing but of course many questions were not asked or answered at the Forum and no follow ups to responses, were allowed.
So Using this we can make some comments and note unasked/unanswered questions and inaccuracies.
Those who were there, please feel free to comment and provide information, questions and corrections.
To start with for example:
* The disposal costs for example are not even mentioned, nor is sustainability. Many of Field Turf fields around the country HAVE been replaced (the salesman's denial notwithstanding- the facts are there in news stories from around the country and world= many archived at www.synturf.org) at half a million dollars to a million dollars per rug replacement.
* Joe Lavorgna is quoted (and we have the audio posted) as saying the artificial turf field installation costs will be BURIED in the modernization costs of each school so wouldn't be a problem to get the money for and may not even need to get approval for ( - they would just do and parents would support). The first one in which the costs are being buried is at Paint Branch HS, with Gaithersburg HS and Wheaton HS stated by MCPS to follow. This is REALLY troubling from a variety of perspectives. A state of the art natural field would cost at most a third of the AT field cost (the natural turf experts say 250K tops but Joe L said 400K for a good natural field so for argument we'll take that as top). The upwards of $800,000 difference could be spent on additional natural field renovation and sports facilities OR EVEN lab and other EDUCATIONAL school needs! To suggest that this huge amount of money is inconsequential is irresponsible at best and should alarm every parent who sees MCPS school educational standards being eroded while unnecessary expenses continue.
Because the AT field "slipped in" to the renovation commits the school system and each school to a budget-busting black hole !: unlike natural turf fields the artificial fields will need to be replaced at half a million to one million dollars EVERY 5 to ten years. No modernizatin budget to hide THAT cost in! What else will not get funded to pay for the money sucking artificial turf??
* Joe says the costs willl come out even at the end of 10 years. There is no accounting that can get you to that - a 1.2 million dollar AT field over 10 years would be 120,000 dollars a year with no maintenance and 135-145,000 dollars a year with appropriate maintenance. The BEST most bells and whistles grass stadium field with lights, fence etc (say $400k tops) would cost out at most $40,000 over those same 10 years, at most $60,000 a year with the most intensive conventional maintenance (less with organic). That evens out how?? Also of course what he doesn't mention is that the fact that AT needs to be disposed of and replaced at 500,000 to one million dollars every 5-10 years while grass does not need to be replaced, which from the first replacement permanently increases the huge diffferential between AT and great grass.