Letters to the Editor: September 26 – October 2, 2019
Thankful for New Turf at Larry Graves Park
Editor,
I’m writing to recognize Jimmy Ruby, senior program supervisor for youth and adult sports, and the City’s Recreation and Parks team for their excellent work coordinating with Arlington on the installation of new turf fields at Larry Graves. While Madison Park fields remain a wonderful space, weather and field conditions often limit their availability. Now with these improvements at Larry Graves, I’m optimistic that practice and game cancellations will decrease.
There’s so much to be thankful for in this area…great schools, accessibility, economic growth! And now we can add state-of-the-art turf fields to the list. I hope our city leaders see the value in this effort and start the conversation about turfing our Madison Park fields as well.
Adam Roy
Falls Church
Why Trade Sloppy Fields for Potential Health Risks?
Editor,
As many may have noticed, Larry Graves field recently fell victim to the turf field craze. The once patchy grass field is now reborn as a shining beacon of plastic and shredded car tires. Ah, progress.
With the grass field we were dealing with known issues: use and rain affected the playability of the surface. Now we have a plastic field that heats up like an oven in the sun, vaporizing unknown chemicals into the air. On top of that, we’ve pelletized car tires and strewn them across the field, allowing them to hitch rides each day in our children’s shoes, hair, and clothing.
Some will say there are no studies proving adverse health effects with these new fields. But why do we need studies to confirm what we already know? Namely, that breathing in these fumes and incidentally ingesting pelletized car tires can only be worse than playing in some mud, or, gasp, rescheduling a few games. When did we as a community knowingly trade away the health of the players and the environment for scheduling consistency?
Josh Mazen
Falls Church
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