Artificial turf fields closed around DC again - please contact and express frustration!!
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Anonymous
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Posting this here instead of sports because this is also impacting many school fields and teams. This is ridiculous and happened at the exact same time last year. My kids' field at school is closed (impacting PE for all students) and soccer practice/games can't happen. So the 2 outlets to keep our kids active and healthy have been impacted when DGS/Parks and Rec had ALL SUMMER to look at these fields.
Please consider contacting the people below. Dear DC Stoddert Soccer families: I am writing to share information about the issue our club (along with many others) is facing regarding our field permits at DPR (Department of Parks and Recreation) facilities and DC Public Schools (DCPS) facilities. We learned on Tuesday morning that the Department of General Services (DGS) has closed a number of fields due to failed “hardness tests.” A number of our permitted fields are effected and were closed effective immediately. The fields are apparently undergoing remediation to ensure they are safe. Unfortunately, was no communication from any agency about the closures and expected re-openings. This has been a challenge to our programs since cancelling sessions on these fields means kids are not playing soccer and coaches are not coaching – the primary mission of what we do! At the same time, safety is our #1 priority, and we certainly do not want kids playing on unsafe surfaces. So, while we want the City to responsibly insure that the fields we pay to use are safe, our frustration has been that: 1. There is no logic whatsoever to the timing of their field testing. This happened last year at virtually the same time. Testing fields the last week of August, when school is just starting and sports leagues are beginning, is just illogical and lacks all understanding and sensitivity to the schedules related to these fields. Just as we apply for and pay for permits in a timely fashion, shouldn’t the City be equally responsible for making sure the fields we have paid for will be available to us when we have been permitted to use them? 2. Because of the timing of the closures and the pressures to re-open fields, can we be assured that all fixes are being done thoroughly and properly, without being rushed? 3. As permitted users, we should be the first ones to receive information about field safety and field closures. We only found out about these issues by seeing signs on these fields – no notice was extended to us by DGS in advance or at the point of testing. We will likely only find out they are open if we keep going to the field to see if the field closure signs have come down. As permitted users, why are we not being informed of field closures? If you would like to advocate to the City on behalf of your child and the thousands of players at DC Stoddert Soccer whose soccer training is being impacted, please help us by emailing the public officials listed below. Demand that they provide safe playing spaces and that, moving forward, more consideration is given to the impact of this badly timed safety testing and lack of communication. Greer Gillis, Director, Department of General Services: greer.gillis@dc.gov Donny Gonzalez, Facilities Manager, Department of General Services: Donny.gonzalez@dc.gov Seth Shapiro, Department of Parks and Recreation, seth.shapiro@dc.gov Matthew Floca, Facilities Director, DCSP, matthew.floca@k12.dc.gov Councilwoman Mary Cheh, mcheh@dc.gov Michael Porcello, Councilwoman Mary Cheh’s office, mporcello@dc.gov We sincerely hope the fields are fit for practicing and playing on by the weekend, but we truly do not know at this time, and we are preparing for the worst-case scenario. We will keep everyone informed of the impact all of this may have on practice and game schedules |
Anonymous
| WTH is a hardness test?? |
Anonymous
It is to ensure proper cushioning in the event of a fall, mostly to ensure no concussions. I am sure they all failed, like they did last year, and then they "magically" passed when the outrage happened last year. So they sat on it for a year, the fields got worse, and now they failed again. |
Anonymous
Makes me feel less alone with the foot-high grass field that the kids can't play on. At least the playing field is even! 
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Anonymous
| Ah, just saw on the listserv that Shepherd Field is closed--I guess this explains why. |
Anonymous
| Upshur too. But I think the baseball team there did the right thing. Unofficially just play there anyway. |
Anonymous
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OMG I hope this is not again being driven by this nutty Mom from AU Park who pulled her kid out of Janney last year because of concerns about the since replaced turf field at Janney.
She managed to get Fox to do a story again on this last week: http://www.fox5dc.com/news/parents-push-for-warnings-on-playground-surfaces-synthetic-turf-in-extreme-heat |
Anonymous
| Side note - is artificial turf a lot less expensive to maintain than grass? |
Anonymous
So, don't touch things that are too hot. Got it. Next. |
Anonymous
Those burns look bad, but can't they just have kids play in shoes? |
Anonymous
It depends on what standard you are maintaining it to. It is almost impossible to keep highly used grass fields in good condition. So sure if you have a weed and dirt field (like Carter Barron) and don't maintain it it costs nothing. Alternately if you re-sod a field every year to try to keep it in playing condition I'm guessing you are spending $50,000 for each re-sodding. My re-collection is that turf fields cost about $500,000. But then they have almost no maintenance costs and are always in playable condition and can be used continuously. I don't like turf myself but there really is no alternative in busy areas like ours and that is almost the consensus position of school systems and city park departments everywhere. |
Anonymous
Grass on a playing field becomes hard packed mud very quickly. To maintain an impact safe grass field like you see in stadiums is very expensive and flat out does not happen in the real world. I remember when our school had a grass field. We called it the dust bowl. It was as hard as concrete. Back then parents complained about concussions and asthma. |
Anonymous
Just to clarify since I posted the news link - the mom in the news story is not the mom leading the anti turf fields crusade. |
Anonymous
Huh, interesting. Well, it's hot in DC and only going to get hotter, and it doesn't seem like DGS is able to maintain the artificial turf fields anyway. And I wonder if it's even true that synthetic turf isn't as hard as natural turf? https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/sports/football/concussion-report-highlights-field-maintenance.html |
Anonymous
| So what frustration are we supposed to express? That Stoddert Soccer can't play games? |