Green Forum on Synthetic Turf – Thur Sept 24th 7:00pm, PMS Mutlipurpose Room

As many of you know, the School Board is reconsidering what the surface for the playfield at the new Havens School should be.  The plan had been (and currently still is) for a synthetic turf field, but, in light of concerns about the health and environmental safety of the crumb rubber infill in most synthetic turf, as well as neighbors’ concerns about use issues, the School Board is considering the possibility of changing the surface to something else (grass or an infill alternative).

We know this is an issue many of you care about and want to learn more about. This Thursday, Sept  24, 7:00-8:30 p.m., the “Green Forum on Synthetic Turf,” sponsored by the PUSD Green Committee, at the Piedmont Middle School Multipurpose Room (740 Magnolia Ave) provides the opportunity to do so.  The district is hiring a facilitator for this, and there will be breakout groups so we’ll all have the opportunity to engage in discussion and learn more about this very important issue.

At a later date this fall, the School Board will hold a full hearing on the field surface issues for the Havens Playfield and the decision will be made by December when the “change order’ would have to get in to Webcor (the builder).  Now is the time to understand the issue.  Please come to the meeting so you can learn as well as voice your opinion.

The Havens and Beach Green Committees believe this is an important issue from an environmental perspective, involving big questions about whether or not the precautionary principle should apply.  Other school districts and cities across the country are debating these same issues, and some – most prominently, New York City and the Los Angeles Unified School District – have decided to stop installing more fields with crumb rubber infill.

Independent scientists are urging thorough evaluations before more synthetic fields with recycled tire crumb are installed.  For example, the editors of The Journal of Exposure Science and Epidemiology (from the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School ) argue that:

At the present time, we believe that the million dollar + expense to produce and install a synthetic field by communities and athletic facilities demands a much more thorough understanding of the environmental impacts, human exposure and health risk implications associated with all synthetic turf products available on the market.  This calls for a comprehensive evaluation of artificial turf by exposure scientists, and others in environmental science and environmental health sciences.

For your edification, below are a few of the health and environmental issues associated with rubber infill playing fields. We’re also attaching a letter Margaret sent to the School Board earlier this year.  It describes the issues and contains many links to independent studies.  If you only have time to read something shorter, there are links to some informational flyers on the issue at the very end of this message.

Sincerely,

Jill Lindenbaum
Heather Clapp
Havens Green Committee

Margaret Ovenden
Beach Green Committee

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What are the health and environmental issues?

TOXICITY: Crumb rubber from waste tires contains toxic chemicals and heavy metals with documented links to harmful health effects.  These include toluene (developmental toxicant), benzene (carcinogen, developmental and reproductive toxicant), styrene (neurotoxic), butadiene (carcinogen), butylated hydroxyanisole (carcinogen).  Tire rubber contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phthalates, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as zinc, lead, cadmium and other metals.

INHALATION, INGESTION: There is potential for all of these toxins to be inhaled, absorbed through the skin, and even swallowed by children who play on these fields.

MIGRATION: Rubber pellets can be tracked into the classroom, car and home, where exposure continues.

RUN-OFF: A number of the chemicals in crumb rubber are soluble in water and might leach from the fields to contaminate ground water and soil.

HEAT: These fields can get very hot when temperatures are high, posing a risk of heat stress or heat stroke.  Manufacturers readily admit that a synthetic field can run 10-30 degrees F hotter than a grass field.  Synthetic fields contribute to the “urban heat island”effect.

INFECTION: Abrasion injuries (“rug burn”) that occur on synthetic turf create “pathways” for bacterial infections, including MRSA.  Properly maintained synthetic fields require regular disinfection.

INJURIES: Synthetic turf may cause more sports injuries (e.g. “turf toe”) than grass.  The jury is out on this.  Professional sports players prefer grass.

DISPOSAL: Synthetic fields wear out and must be replaced every 8-15 years.  How to dispose of the crumb rubber is especially a problem, because it contains toxins and carcinogens.

Better alternatives:

NATURAL GRASS

-          PUSD successfully maintains Witter Baseball and Softball fields as natural grass fields with very little pesticide and herbicide use (and plans to use even less of these in the future).

-          Grass helps decrease CO2, provides a habitat for many living organisms, and cools the surrounding area.

-          Newer varieties of grass exist which require less water and mowing.

-          Soils in grass fields contain bacteria which decompose body fluids, algae and animal and bird droppings.

SYNTHETIC TURF WITH ORGANIC INFILL

-          Organic infill made from crushed cork and coconut husks does not have the issues with chemicals that crumb rubber infill has.

-          Does not retain heat the way crumb rubber does; may have a cooling effect.

-          At the end of the lifecycle, the organic infill can be recycled.

What you can do:

ATTEND the September 24 “Green Forum on Synthetic Turf” sponsored by the PUSD Green Initiative (7:00-8:30 p.m., Piedmont Middle School Multipurpose Room, 740 Magnolia Ave) to gain a better understanding of what are the health and environmental issues that need to be considered in making a choice between synthetic turf and grass.

WRITE the Board of Education expressing your opinion.  Attend any Board meetings on the issue.  (Sometime before December, the Board will make a decision.) School Board e-mails: rgadbois@piedmont.k12.ca.us, rtolles@piedmont.k12.ca.us, jmonach@piedmont.k12.ca.us, mjones@piedmont.k12.ca.us, rraushenbush@piedmont.k12.ca.us

DISCUSS this issue with your friends, teammates, others you think would be concerned.

READ UP ON THE ISSUE: Some places to start:

SHORT FLYER: What to Know About Turf Fields? From Mount Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center .

http://www.mountsinai.org/img/vgn_lnk/Regular%20Content/File/Patient%20Care/Children/turf_fact_sheet.pdf

SHORT FLYER: Common Exposures: Synthetic Turf.  From Grassroots Environmental Education.  http://www.grassrootsinfo.org/syntheticturf.html

SHORT FLYER: “Grass playing fields vs. synthetic turf: How will your district decide?” New Jersey Education Association http://www.njea.org/pdfs/HS_GrassTurf_May08.pdf

“Synthetic Turf: Health Debate Takes Root,” March 2008 Environmental Health Perspectives, published by the National Institute of Environmental Health  Sciences http://www.ehponline.org/members/2008/116-3/EHP116pa116PDF.PDF

“Artificial Turf: Exposures to Ground-Up Rubber Tires,” 2007 Environment and Human Health, Inc., www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/

What’s Going On?

Piedmont City Council: More Blair Park.

Monday, Sept 21st, 7:30pm City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue

Info, email addresses, agenda: http://www.ci.piedmont.ca.us/citycouncil/

Please join me in supporting the EIR process. The vote is only to continue with the EIR, not to approve Blair Park. I think it’s important to hear the real issues that an EIR will expose, rather than speculation from both sides of the issue.

Please also join me in urging the city to put a mid-block cross walk at the tennis courts, connecting Linda Beach Field and the Linda dog run. This area sees very high foot traffic from the dog run, playfield, tennis courts, tot lot and Beach Elementary going back and forth. This should have been done 3 or 4 years ago when both Beach field and the dog run were updated. Now is the time to fix the issue.

Linda Beach field is used by our children for soccer, baseball, lacrosse, tee ball, and softball. Primary groups are 5-9 year olds. There is a tot lot there, plus an elementary school. The block is extremely long and beckons for a med-block crossing. The area at the tennis courts/top of Linda Beach Field is about right to facilitate safer crossings for all facilities. The sightlines are good and the cost would be minimal.

PUSD School Board

Wednesday, September 23rd, City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue

Info and agenda: http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/board-of-education/meeting-materials

Measure E: Not much updating

Last update to the site was July 24th (as of this post).

Info: http://www.pusdbond.org/updates

My question from a previous post still isn’t answered. If PG&E made a mistake on the gas line under the Havens Schoolmates building, are they paying for the relocation to the Beach Playground? Accountability and communication seem to be lacking, yet again, in the Measure E process.

Piedmont Charging Youth Sports for Field Use?

There have been some rumblings at the City Council about possibly charging local youth sports for field space usage. What do you think of that idea?

If fees are charged, should Piedmont-based programs get a resident rate and priority since participants (or their parents) pay Piedmont property taxes, or is it “first-pay, first-served”?

Piedmont Soccer Club, Piedmont Girls Softball, and Piedmont Baseball Foundation are all non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations. Should they be charged the same as private use?

Leave a comment to let us know what you think. You can also click “Your Local Officials” above to contact the council directly.

–L

Blair Park Field Survey

Our neighbors over at the Today in Montclair, 94611 blog have created a survey for Montclarians and Piedmonters regarding development at Blair Park, in Oakland, general field usage, and related topics.

Read more in the post “All About Local Sports Fields” or Take the Survey.

–L

Chico Outlaws Host Local Tryout March 8th

OK, you know you always wanted to do this…or maybe you know someone.

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Manager Greg Cadaret to evaluate talent for possible spring training invites

CHICO, Calif.- The Chico Outlaws announced that they have scheduled a one day player tryout beginning at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, March 8 at the Diablo Valley College baseball field, 321 Golf Club Rd., Pleasant Hill, CA 94523.

The tryout is open to the public. Outlaws Manager Greg Cadaret and General Manager Curt Jacey will oversee the tryout, evaluating talent and offering spring training contracts to players they feel have a chance to be part of the 2009 Outlaws roster.

The cost of the tryout is $50 pre-registration and $75 to register the day of the event. Players are required to furnish their own equipment (gloves, bats, cleats, catcher’s gear) and a bag lunch. Interested players should contact Josh Burkett in the Outlaws front office at 530-345-3210 to pre- register. Spots at the tryout are limited, and players are advised to register early to guarantee their spot at the tryout. For more details on the tryout, visit the team’s official website: www.ChicoOutlawsBaseball.com.

Artificial Turf Buried at Havens?

If you look at the packet of materials for the school board meeting on February 11th, you’ll see on page 31 a “Use Agreement for Havens School Playfield”.  Buried in there (Witnesseth, item #2, “Specifications”) that it appears that artificial turf is a done deal and that no natural option is being considered.

Given the amount of concern the community has expressed over plastic grass at Coaches Field or Hampton Field, it seems that a little more information should be presented regarding the synthetic turf option up-front. At a minimum, this should be a separate agenda item with discussion. I think that a better idea is to remove #2 for more consideration of all field surface options at a later date.

Overall, the field and the rest of the use restrictions seem reasonable, but I believe the discussion of the surface should be more “above ground” with a natural option considered.

–L

Piedmont School Board Meeting – Measure E Portables

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 – 7:00 pm City Hall Council Chambers

Tonight the PSUD school board is meeting to discuss the Measure E interim housing issue. This discussion continues the topic from the joint school board and city council meeting last week. (Watch the meeting online or read the meeting minutes).

Last week there were many options that had been discussed, but at the joint meeting it has become clear that the neighborhoods, the school communities, and the sports groups all favor Blair park.

With so many of Piedmont’s youth in sports programs, it’s pretty likely you received an email recently from either Eric Havian, president of the Piedmont Soccer Club or Glyn Burge, president of the Piedmont Baseball Foundation. Both are extremely well thought out and make the case for Blair Park as the best location for the portables, for the short term, and more importantly, long term improvement to Piedmont’s parks and recreation facilities. The Blair Park site also reduces the “sunk costs” that can eat into Measure E funds. Money that could be put to use repairing buildings instead of removing temporary plumbing and electrical from a portable site. With Blair Park, much of the infrastructure will be used in the sports field project.

I encourage you to participate by attending tonight’s meeting or sending an email to input@pusdbond.org

–L

Revisiting “Fair and Equitable”

I’ve had some positive comments on my post about a fair and equitable solution for placement of portables during Measure E construction. Overall, I think the Piedmont community agrees that we need to do what’s best for the educational needs of our children.  And not just “our children” (my own children) but “Our Children” being all the kids of Piedmont.

It’s hard to decide what is the best solution, when clearly each of the solutions has problems and affects someone or some group that another plan might not impact as greatly. However, we must weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each proposal with the goal of giving our children the best educational experience possible, even during construction.

In my mind, I’ve narrowed the decision down to a few key factors.

• What is best for the educational needs of the children?
• Which option is the most cost-effective? (let’s spend the money on school repair and improvements, not portables). Remember to consider the costs for restoring to it’s current state the site when construction is complete.
• Which option is least disruptive to the entire community and individual neighborhoods? Of special consideration here are programs and facilities outside the scope of school-aged children. Recreation dept programs, schoolmates, tot lots and preschool facilities, etc.
• Which location provides walkable options? A walkable location can encourage families who currently use the car to start walking to school. Some options may contribute to congestion or inconvenience, but congestion issues are different that children’s safety issues. If we alter traffic, adding to already busy traffic areas, safety becomes a consideration.
• Which option can be implemented in time for students to “move in” for Fall 2009 classes? PUSD properties seem to offer the fastest options for setup of the portables.

The joint Piedmont city council/Piedmont Unified School District board meeting is Monday, December 1st, 7:00pm at City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue.

–L

Please leave a comment on this issue.

Where to put the kids? What is fair?

The issue of Measure E interim student housing has become a bit of a hot topic around town. Various ideas for the location of temporary portables are being floated, including Witter Baseball field, Hampton Field, Coaches Field/Blair Park, Havens plus tennis courts (possibly throw in 801 Magnolia), and Beach Field. Each of these locations has a positive and negative side.

Measure E was positioned to retrofit our schools, not to build new ones. The Becker plan found a way to rebuild Havens using those funds and I think that’s a good thing. It is visionary to take what could have been functional, but uninspiring and figure out how to do something great for the community. However, the direct benefit, and therefore the bulk of the hardship, should be borne fairly and equitably.

So where should the portables be? What is fair and equitable?

Let’s look at Witter Baseball field. Anyone who reads this blog knows that I’m very pro-baseball and as a PBF board member, I know that losing Witter Baseball for 3-4 years will have a huge impact on the older players, but also ripple through community baseball and soccer programs of other age groups. However, when I take off my baseball hat and consider the issue as a Piedmont resident with school aged children, it seems to be not such a bad idea. It’s central, has plenty of room for portables, and keeps students (except Beach) generally close to their original schools. Witter baseball field adjoins Wildwood, PHS, and PMS and is about 4 blocks from Havens. (see this map to get an idea of the relative location of Havens, Wildwood, PMS, and PHS to the Baseball Field.) The main baseball diamond could be retained for practices as well as student use during the day. And while direct drop off via automobile is problematic, the central location means that walking to school is viable from most of Piedmont. Overall, this plan is better than many of the others. It keeps each school together in a centralized, walkable location.

Another option is Beach field, however this seems to be extremely weak proposal and not well thought out. This location is not easily walkable from most of Piedmont, so cars will be blocking Linda every morning and afternoon. Already there are traffic safety issues on Linda during school hours or soccer or baseball games. How would this be improved by adding to, possibly more than doubling, the student and teacher population there? Drop off and pick up would be a traffic nightmare. It also seems extremely unfair for Beach, which has the smallest amount of repair work needed, funds allocated, and improvements planned, to have to take the brunt of the interim housing effort for 3-4 years.

Hampton field is a decent choice, at least at first glance. It has four streets that come into a drop off point, has a large, contiguous field that could house portables, and also would allow for a small playground and basketball courts on site. Again, there are negatives. These include that the four approaches all meet at the same corner, so drop off would need some traffic coordination. Also, Hampton is very highly used by youth baseball, softball, soccer, as well as community tennis and basketball. If you think losing Witter baseball has a big impact on youth sports, imaging losing Hampton. The impact is much greater and directly affects a large pool of children aged 6-12.

Whew, what’s left? It seems there are still three or four options that won’t totally crater youth sports or put the burden on a school community who isn’t the primary beneficiary of the bulk of the Measure E construction. First is Witter Baseball Field, mentioned above. Aside from youth sports impact, it seems to offer the best location if the goal is to provide some continuity and community for displaced students. The field impact primarily affects 3 baseball teams. Second is Crocker Park. Yes, it’s not been considered, but it appears to be about as big as the Beach location and its temporary use would displace no youth sports or overburden one of the smaller elementary schools. Third is Coaches Field/Blair Park. The big negative here is traffic. However, the housing density is low compared to the other proposed locations, and if school walkers cross at Highland Avenue at the light, there is a separated sidewalk directly from Highland to Coaches field. The space to be considered should be all parking lot areas, the baseball field’s deep right field, and the corporation yard. Those three spaces alone allow for a huge area for portables, the baseball diamond as a field for school use, plus baseball, softball, and soccer could still use the field evenings and weekends. Parking for staff would be across Moraga in Blair park.

The final option is the one Drew mentioned in a previous post. “Flatten 801 Magnolia and put the PHS portables on that site and on Bonita from Magnolia to Vista. Once the Havens rebuild is complete, move the WW kids, and then the Beach kids, to the Havens portables.  Since there are (I think) about 40% fewer kids at WW and Beach than at Havens, there would be a need for fewer portables, so instead of portables taking up the whole play space, they could build the new field and all the kids would have a big field (and the brand new MPR) for PE, etc.”

None of these proposals are perfect. Each has enough drawbacks and problems to take it out of the running. Yet, we need to figure a way to get this work done quickly and safely, and most of all, fairly. I encourage you to participate in the discussion at two upcoming community meetings.

Dec 1, 7:30 pm, City Hall, Joint meeting of the City Council and Board of Education
Dec 10, 7:00 pm, City Hall, Regular meeting of the Board of Education

–L

Feel free to comment on this post. The purpose of this blog is discussion and debate for the Piedmont community and you are encouraged to participate in the conversation.

Patio Gym HoopFeast! Sunday October 26th, noon-6pm

Sign your kid up today for free BBQ!

Celebrate the new floor in the Patio Gym, with an afternoon of basketball and barbeque.  Sunday, October 26th kids will hoop it up on the new floor in casual games for grades K through 8, while parents, players and friends all enjoy a barbeque and refreshment.  A veritable feast of hoops, and a feast with the hoops!

Piedmont Basketball Foundation will be orienting the games towards the different ages like this:

12-2pm  Up through 3rd grade

1-3pm    4th grade

2-4pm    5th grade

3-5pm    6th grade

4-6pm    7^th & 8^th grades

As there is a lot going on this weekend,  kids are being encouraged to come WHENEVER they can to try out the new floor.  Parents, too.  While the kids are playing, the BBQ will be grilling and the conviviality will be flowing all afternoon!

All kids signed up by October 22nd get their food and beverage free.  So RSVP by visiting http://piedmont-hoops.net/ and  clicking on “comments” to the HoopFeast blog posting.

And thanks to the Piedmont Basketball Foundation, the City and Schools for the new Patio Gym Floor.