Local resident John Modzelewski urges the design team to reconsider their proposal of artificial turf for the multi-use field at Puopolo Park in a letter to the Boston Parks & Recreation Department Project Manager.
John lists seven arguments for natural grass over synthetic turf and notes that other local areas, including the Boston Common, the Esplanade and nearby parks in Charlestown, all have natural grass. Read the full letter below.
See NorthEndWaterfront.com coverage of the community meetings regarding the park improvements here.
Thank you for this thoughtful and informative letter neighbor.
Well stated.
We should not be removing hundreds of thousand of blades of living breathing grass and replacing them with recycled rubber tires that are dyed green and mechanically formed.
Do NE residents realize that artificial turf is the material chosen by the Parks Dept? Grass was NOT offered in the two design concepts presented at the meeting Mr. Modzelewski attended. His letter is a well thought out and reasoned analysis for keeping the field naturally GREEN!
My guess, the parks department was thinking that artificial turf doesn’t need to be mowed. However, for these applications, this isn’t the same as maintenace-free. These surfaces don’t age well and were found to need replacement much more than antipated or planned for. I saved an old program booklet from an early 60’s football game. It had an advertisement for the miracle of “modern” turf as a way to reduce injuries. What happened was a whole new class of turf related injuries. Ones that were unrelated to contact. Then again, there was a dirty technique of grabbing the shoulder pads and pushing or pulling a player’s head into this turf. It would usual put the player out of the game.
The artificial surface used in the gassy tot lot seems to be working out great. Been there for years with relatively little problems.
Turf in a lot is a far cry from installing turf on a field where multi athletic competitions are held.
Tot lot.Sorry.