City supervisor still not sold on virtues of synthetic turf fields

by Jonathan Farrell

Despite a panel discussion and presentation at Jewish Community High School on Sept. 14, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi still has reservations about the city's artificial turf program.

More than 50 people were in attendance for the forum, including SF Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg. The question-and-answer style forum was organized by Mirkarimi to further address issues that he says have not been fully presented to the public in detail. More than half a dozen handouts of various memorandums and reports were provided at the meeting.

Dan Mauer, capital improvements division projects manager for Rec. and Park and SF Department of the Environment Director Chris Geiger were the main speakers. They both presented what they considered to be adequate information to the public, but both had to admit when pressed by questions from the audience that some of their information is not conclusive.

"I am still not a fan and not sold on this project at all," Mirkarimi said.

Mirkarimi's strongest objections stem from two aspects that Rec. and Park seemed to overlook. They are the apparent lack of proper planning to honestly alert and involve the public in the process and the danger of lead contained in the synthetic turf.

Meetings from as far back as 2006 were poorly attended, Mirkarimi pointed out, and the inherent toxic elements, such as lead, within the turf product could be a cause for alarm.

The SF Department of Public Health declared in a memo that they "are relying on the assessment performed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)." The OEHHA declared last summer that the artificial turf was "OK to install and OK to play on."

But Mirkarimi said a simple "OK" is not good enough.

"Rec. and Park has failed in their outreach to the people and in the completeness of the data," Mirkarimi said.

He was also not satisfied with a presentation Geiger made at the meeting on behalf of the Department of the Environment. While Geiger did his best to gather as much data as possible, he admitted that it was not conclusive to say without a shadow of doubt that the intrinsic potentially-toxic levels would pose no threat to humans or the environment.

Artificial turf is basically made up of tire crumbs from old truck tires. While the turf is uniform in appearance and measure, its dust and particles disperse into the environment.

"Artificial turf is more even than regular grass," said Katherine Dustan, a member of her high school track team at Bishop O'Dowd High School. "But the artificial turf field gets a lot hotter. So much so it radiates heat."

Students from throughout the City were present at the meeting to voice their thoughts. While some said they liked the idea of artificial turf, one student remarked, "it is like playing on carpeted cement."

There is debate as to whether the artificial turf can cause or be a vehicle for serious skin and abrasion infections. But the data on this is not complete. The potential hazard to the water table and aquatic life as tire crumb dust mixes into the soil and goes down sewer systems through rain run-off is not fully detailed. Which then brings up another question - how will this effect people with asthma? And what about the developing respiratory systems of young children?

Some at the meeting questioned the data concerning the effects upon young children. Mauer said he did not have all the data present but that children and youth were considered in the evaluations.

Mirkarimi is skeptical.

And with a use-span of about five to 10 years, artificial turf must be removed and replaced; which then brought up the subject of recycling. In a formal letter addressed to Yomi Agunbiade of Rec. and Park, Geiger mentioned that the Department of the Environment is concerned "that there is currently no system available to recycle used synthetic turf."

"The City will have to take full responsibility for recycling," Mirkarimi said.

Geiger said there was an effort to get the chosen turf manufacturer to disclose all the ingredients in the turf. Mirkarimi fears the push to get the turf installed at Kimball and other fields citywide will only create more problems.

"I have heard talk of recycling, but have seen nothing set in writing," Mirkarimi said.

"Rec. and Park is rushing to get this turf installed, hoping that all the other concerns will somehow just take care of themselves. This is not sensible," Mirkarimi said.

The synthetic turf program is being facilitated by the non-profit group City Fields Foundation, which is raising funds to transform city playing fields.

Mirkarimi said he is prepared to confront Rec. and Park.

"I am demanding that an understanding is made and signed in writing that important conditions be met and that the artificial turf project proceed only upon contingencies," he said.