Artificial Turf: DANGER!

October 3, 2008

Honorable members of the City Council, Scott Stringer, Borough President of Manhattan and Board Member of Randall's
Island Sports Foundation (RISF) and Aimee Boden, the Executive Director of the RISF:

I appreciate your attendance or that of your representatives at the City Council Parks and Recreation Committee meeting on
Monday, September 22nd, 2008 entitled Oversight of the Randall's Island Sports Foundation and the NYC Parks
Department.

Dr. Crain - a psychologist, who has studied the impacts of lead ingestion by children on their development - provided
testimony that requires your immediate attention as he addressed the real dangers of exposure to lead in synthetic turf fields
in our city. It is therefore worthy of recapping to you.

In his public statements to you on the record (attached for your reference), Dr. Crain announced that the toxicity of
synthetic turf being used by both the Parks Department of Parks and Recreation and the RISF is significant having reached
dangerous levels of lead in both the polyethelene 'blades' and the pellets forming the base or cushion of the turf. A
peer-reviewed study to be published in the Journal of Exposure Science in November (also attached) provides more details
of these findings.

As Dr. Crain noted, esteemed heath scientists such as Philip J. Landrigan, Bruce Lanphear, and R.L. Canfield say there may
be no safe level of lead exposure. Even low levels can damage the child's developing nervous system. Dr. Crain called for
a moratorium on new installations until much more research has been conducted.

Public officials responsible for approving, monitoring or halting the use of synthetic turf also have the responsibility to take
actions to warn the public about this danger and should ensure at the very least that children under the age of 6 years are
kept from the fields until more is known.

Please take note that notice to you of such serious findings require immediate action for both legal and moral reasons and
that your positions as public officials do not insulate you from reckless actions you take in response to this new peer-
reviewed scientific data.

Would you please let me know what steps you are taking to inform the relevant city engineers and commissioners of this
matter and what steps they in turn are taking to remove this environmental threat to the health of those exposed to synthetic
turf?

Thank you for your good work.

Robert Jereski
Co-founder
New York Climate Action Group

Groups Urge a Moratorium on City Use of Artificial Turf

Print the attached letter and send it to the Mayor about this important issue!

_____
Several environmental and civic groups are calling for a moratorium on the use of artificial turf in new sports fields in the city, and question the seriousness with which the Bloomberg administration is investigating the turf’s potential hazards.

In a letter to the city’s parks and health commissioners, dated Thursday, the groups say the installation of such fields should be suspended pending the results of a review of health risks being conducted by the health department.

“The city has a responsibility to protect children, and a vested interest in protecting the environment,” the letter states. “Yet even as evidence suggested that artificial turf may pose health risks and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene initiated its review, the Parks Department continued to make plans to install dozens more artificial-turf fields. The Parks Department has shown little interest in studying artificial turf’s effects on health and the environment.”

The letter adds, “This brings into question the agencies’ commitment to conducting a thorough health and safety review of artificial turf.”

The call for a moratorium is part of a growing concern among parents, public health officials and environmentalists about synthetic-turf fields. Thousands of the fields have been installed nationwide in recent years, including 77 in the city during the past decade. Twenty-three more are planned.

from:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/nyregion/29turf.html

Rally for Randall's Island

WALK IN THE PARK COMMUNITY MARCH/RALLY TO & AT RANDALL’S ISLAND
Sunday, February 24th - 1:00 PM
Meet at the Entrance to the Triborough Bridge Southeast Corner of 2nd Avenue @ 125th Street

VOICE YOUR CONCERNS AND DEMAND THAT THE CITY & PARKS DEPARTMENT:

• Provide Increased Access to Ball Fields for Local Schools and Organizations
• Abolish the Private School Franchise Contract & Develop a More Open and Fair Permitting Process
• Go thru Land Review (ULURP) Process & Prepare Environmental Impact Statement
• Improve Safety and Public Transportation & Stop the Implementation of Artificial Turf
• End Private Parties That Prohibit Access to Public Park Land
Open the 103rd Street Bridge Now!
Implement the South Bronx Greenway Now!
New Leadership at RISF Now!

PARTICIPANTS: Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito • East Harlem Preservation • Class Size Matters • NYC Park Advocates • New York Environmental Law & Justice Project • Friends of Brook Park * Urban Divers* •East Harlem Little League • Harlem R.B.I. • Community Association of East Harlem Triangle Inc. Call (212) 828-9800 to Register Your School, Church or Community Organization.

Our sixth video on YouTube is:

Our sixth video on YouTube is:

Randall's Island, NYC: A Video Snapshot

New York City is surrounded by islands, and Randall's Island is one the most intriguing. This short documentary style film is one New York City is surrounded by islands, and Randall's Island is one the most intriguing. This short documentary style film is one part landscape meditation, one part informational video and one part Brechtian didactic cinema. With breathgiving scenes of nature in a heavily urbanized area, a few interviews and music by Antibalas, Joanne Shenandoah, Kuatli Vazquez, Aretha Franklin, Carioca and Bob Marley, the film explores issues of privatization of public space. Particularly meant to draw attention to the scheme to develop a private beach club and suburban themed "waterpark" on existing public ballfields and protected wetlands this is a hard-hitting and visually rewarding film for everyone interested in beauty, art and protecting the green spaces in our own neighborhoods that together make up our planet.
Altogether the film, posted in two parts, is under 15 minutes.
Category Travel & Places

Click Link:

See the movie here!