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A Call For Artificial Turf On BPC Fields
The recommendation will be made by a working group made up of Community Board 1 members, Battery Park City Authority officials, neighborhood residents, parents and coaches. The group has met over the past year to consider the Community Board’s June 2006 resolution asking the Authority to give up on the frequently mangy, muddy and dusty grass fields and install a state-of-the-art artificial turf surface on the site. For children’s sports advocates, the move to artificial turf is an obvious one. “We are a community that is particularly short on access to athletic fields,” said Mark Costello, president of Downtown Little League, whose teams play on the fields from April through June. “You can play on an artificial turf field 365 days a year. The current grass fields need to be rested at least once a week, and by the end of the summer, they’re still so torn up that they’re basically mud.” Costello estimates that by replacing the grass fields with artificial turf, the community would effectively gain an extra 100 days of playing time each year. But not everyone is as enthusiastic about removing the grass from Battery Park City’s only fields. Alison Simko, a Battery Park City resident and mother of a Little Leaguer, is opposed to the artificial turf and has gathered more than 300 signatures from other residents in opposition to the plan.
Simko was invited to the last meeting of the working group, where she lobbied for the inclusion of a clause acknowledging that some residents disagree with the report’s recommendation of artificial turf, but she was unsuccessful. “I was told that the working group wasn’t supposed to represent the community, it was only supposed to represent the users of the fields,” she said. One point of concern about an artificial turf field for some is the growing number of questions about the health impacts of the materials used. In 2007, Environment and Human Health, Inc., a Connecticut-based non-profit public health organization, released a report finding that the rubber pellets made from recycled tires that are used in many kinds of artificial turf could pose a health threat to users, as carcinogens and toxins are released in the form of dust. Last month, the College of New Jersey suspended use of their football stadium after state health officials found unsafe levels of lead in the nylon grass of the artificial turf there and in a public park in Hoboken. “The evidence is not conclusive at this point, but the working group has decided to avoid the whole issue of recycled tire pellet infill by recommending against its use altogether,” said Jeff Galloway, a CB1 member and Battery Park resident who sits on the working group. “There are a lot of other varieties of artificial turf that can be used.” Physical health concerns about artificial turf aren’t the only objections being raised, however. Others argue that fields of natural growing grass are too precious a psychic resource in Lower Manhattan to lose. William Crain, a professor of psychology at City College, sat on the working group and argued against any kind of artificial turf. Much of Crain’s research is on the psychological benefits of children’s exposure to nature. “Research shows that when children have regular exposure to nature, their attention span increases and their imagination increases.” Crain said. “They get some feeling of belonging to the natural web of life. It fosters a sense of patient observation. Children in the city have so few opportunities for that experience, but even a field of natural grass can make a difference.” On a recent warm Saturday, as Downtown Little League teams took to the fresh, green grass for an early-season game, some parents were ambivalent about the plans for artificial turf. “It’s so nice to have this actual grass while it lasts in the warm weather,” said Peter Liberman, whose son Samuel plays both baseball and soccer on the fields. “But the soccer fields in the fall were just a mud pit. It was awful.” Little League coach William Rogers, standing nearby, agreed with Liberman that artificial turf is the more practical solution. “But I have to say that living in such an artificial environment, to be able to come where there is real grass and real trees is really a treat,” he said. How the Battery Park City Authority’s Board of Directors will act on the working group’s report remains to be seen. Authority President James Cavanaugh said he will not be making his own recommendation when he submits the report to the trustees. Cavanaugh declined to speculate on the outcome, but acknowledged that there are arguments on both sides. “There’s a tradeoff no matter what you do,” Cavanaugh said. “Our mission has been to promote ‘green,’ and certainly artificial turf is not as green as natural turf. But my sense is that most users prefer artificial turf.” Simko said she recognizes that the fields may one day be covered in artificial turf. “But I just hope that before we get to that point we do a huge environmental impact study and have a chance for the whole community to talk about what this means.” No matter what happens, the fields aren’t likely to change anytime soon. The report will be presented to the Battery Park City Authority’s Board of Directors at its May or June meeting, but Authority officials say any resurfacing of the fields will not be soon. Construction of the residential complex on the west side of the fields, which includes a community center, must be completed first. And that’s several seasons away.
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