Fake Plastic Grass: It Wears the CPCC Out
What will they think of next? We received an email from the Cadman Park Community Council, the members of which are in quite a tizzy over the City’s plans to throw down 1.5 acres of artificial turf on the main lawn as part of an upcoming renovation. The bad guy in this drama, according to…
What will they think of next? We received an email from the Cadman Park Community Council, the members of which are in quite a tizzy over the City’s plans to throw down 1.5 acres of artificial turf on the main lawn as part of an upcoming renovation. The bad guy in this drama, according to the CPCC, is Councilman David Yassky (who had a hand in sinking 184 Kent’s shot at landmarking). According to the CPCC literature, the Parks Department, under the stewardship of Yassky, is dropping about $3 million to renovate just a third of the park. The CPCC claims that thousands of area residents registered their disapproval in signed petitions last year but have been ignored. Is there another side to this story or will Yassky forever be known as the anti-grass candidate?
Cadman Plaza [NYC Parks & Rec] GMAP
I’m sorry I even brought up the dogs! It’s a tiny issue in a larger and more complicated debate. It’s just one item where the city seems to be flat out lying about this project saying that the dogs can stay when in fact there is no chance they will.
The whole park renovation has been a disaster imo. Mostly because people in city government have lost the ability to speak straight these days.
I think comments ItsAWrap’s are ridiculous. This entire project is only happening because of a very small group of citizens complaining. Now they are complaining some more in order to get the best possible park for all neighbors. They are fighting to make sure the tax dollars are spent responsibly. I’m sure it’s easier to bash them on a blog, but people spend a lot of their free time trying to improve their neighborhoods. I appreciate their efforts.
fake turf is all the rage now in home lawns. it’s 3 times as expensive at least. also, it is just like laying down concrete for the environment: bad for sewer runoff, heats atmosphere instead of cools, produces no oxygen, etc. another thing, it stays bright green through winter at which time it looks toxic compared to everything else. this is a verry bad trend.
putting that astroturf around a war memorial is an outrage.
I’m pretty sure that the dogs crap whether they are on the leash or not on the leash.
While it isn’t an official dog park, that space is also not an official ball park and people don’t have the “right” to play soccer there either so I think that argument falls flat.
The price of that fake grass is more than what it would cost to remake the lawn with actual grass and new drainage. It costs 3x as much as sod AND needs to be replaced every 8-10 years, and that’s what the manufacturer says.
It also smells.
The debate isn’t about dust vs plastic. It’s about how best to spend the $2mm that has been set aside for renovation.
There is some chicken and egg thing here too. The people use that space as a soccer field and no grass grows. Maybe there is some link? Many of the people against the plan (“you folks” 11:14 mentions) hope to make soccer fields with the fake stuff and lay sod elsewhere with upgraded drainage. They could do that with less than the $2mm. There is no need for sprinklers. The Park Dept has water there.
But sure, fake grass is easier to maintain. Let’s get some fake trees too while we’re at it!
There’s a HUGE dog park about a 1/4 mile away on Columbia Heights near Middagh Street.
This turf is in use on the baseball field on Columbia Street. It looks pretty good and feels great, and can be used for a lot of things by a lot of people…I’d love to have a space like that close by.
dogs are allowed there on the leash, legally. the early hours off-leash tradition is neither here not there.
NYC leash law…According to Section 161.05 of the New York City Health Code..
A person who owns, possesses or controls a dog shall not permit it to be in any public place or in any open or unfenced area abutting on a public place unless the dog is effectively restrained by a leash or chain not more than six feet long.
If dog-owners followed they letter of the law, they would not be able to walk their dogs off the leash at all. However, NYC Parks&Rec permits off-leash walking in Prospect Park, Fort Greene Park and DiMattina Park. There are dog runs in several brooklyn nabes.
All the Cadman Park dog owners who are complaining, never had a right to walk their dogs in Cadman Park off-leash in the first place. The area is not fenced in and is certainly a very public place(The court houses are a couple hundred feet away). Now you want to keep a privilege you never legally had??
Instead of complaining about the turf, why dont you folks organize yourselves and get a nice little dog run out of the deal.
While fake plastic grass reminds almost everyone of the awful Astro-Turf of yesteryear, the artficial “turf grass” used by the Parks Dept today is actually pretty nice. It’s soft and comes with fake “dirt” as well! It may not be our ideal – real grass would be great, but the reality is that real grass will NOT survive. The issue here is that this area, with its extremely heavy use, will forever remain a dust bowl unless it’s paved or fake-grassed. I vote fake grass. People should also recognize that the larger plan includes a jogging trail, complete resoration of the larger park (including Whitman, where they stage Court construction & parking currently), pedestrianizing Cadman Plaza East, restoration of the War Memorial, and pushing media vehicles out of the park and onto the streets. All said a BIG improvement.
I guess I need to refine by post a little. (I’m 9:53) Even if they were to be more open to the pubic and make that area a legit play field, they shouldn’t use the planned turf product. There are better products on the market. The stuff they plan on using is an environmental disaster and gets way way way too hot in the summertime.
Also, if they are planning on making it an official play space, they should bring it up to the community (and perhaps ask some of those private schools to kick in). Part of that space is a war memorial after all, and people may have thoughts about how that is handled.
Lastly, I am never in favor of saying one thing and doing another. If they were going to ban the dogs, they should have said so. But they assured people that that was not the case. So I think they need to stand by their word. I don’t even have a dog!