by eila in Accessibility, Environment and Open Space, Neighborhoods and Squares, Public Health & Safety, Schools and Youth
Posted on July 11, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Last Modified on August 25, 2010 at 9:03 pm
loading…
Of the 39 Somerville Parks and Playgrounds listed on the city website, Glen Park, at the corner of Glen and Oliver Streets in East Somerville, has the finest integrated play equipment in Somerville.
The Community Access & Inclusion Project surveyed this area one steamy August day last year. Only one family was enjoying this lovely Park.
The surrounding seating and family area is also fabulously designed. Below, we see a table that allows for accessible use, plus a relatively smooth and level transfer route leading from the playground to the soccer/baseball field.
This area is so well-designed for integrated play that we don’t even find that offensive phrase “handicapped accessible” in the city’s published description of Glen Park.
(“handicapped accessible” is code for: “Segregated Pathway or Entrance Provided.”).
Above and below, we see 3 views showing how the play area was designed to include clear ground space so that a wheelchair-driving child can maneuver around independently; and showing that over 50% of the distinctive play features include entry points, seats and other elements to allow for easy reach, transfer and access. Way to Go, Designers!
I haven’t yet found the name of the Designers for Glen Park’s playground.
Probably not the same people who thought out the affiliated Glen Park Community Gardens.
Below, we see that the Community Gardens were unfortunately NOT blocked out to include continuous accessible pathways:
The City, which holds many public hearings and meetings here, didn’t take the time and consideration to mitigate streetscape access from parking lot and sidewalks to the Capuano School and Glen Park. Here is the inaccessible crossing from the parking lot to the school:
That curbcut on the schoolside has an 11.5% running slope. The curbcuts aren’t located within the crosswalk.
Above: Intersection of Glen and Oliver Streets. This is Joe’s Streetscape and Crosswalk work. The curbcuts don’t even match up- and the crosswalk doesn’t even connect them!
The City of Somerville includes this as a “safe route to school.” The routes around here aren’t safe or accessible by any transportation, pedestrian or building code standards! How much did- and will- these mistakes cost us all in time, resources and funds?
This area has many complicated environmental and safety issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL – Tetrachloroethylene
Somerville’s historic legacy, from railroad, farming and industrial evolution, includes environmental contamination.
An environmental site investigation of nearby 50 Tufts Street was initiated in 2004, and is currently ongoing. 50 Tufts Street, which was operated for many years as a laundry and dry cleaning supply warehouse, was found to contain high levels of tetrachloroethylene, a manufactured chemical used for dry cleaning and metal degreasing. (Tetrachloroethylene is also called PERC and also called PCE.) A primary business activity at this site was the packaging of bulk tetrachloroethylene into smaller containers, such as 55-gallon drums, for transport for use as a dry cleaning solvent or other uses. A past owner, Uni-First, accepted responsibility for environmental assessment and cleanup.
In March 2007, a resident in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, was concerned about indoor air contamination from vapor intrusion of tetrachloroethylene (PCE) in her home associated with the nearby 50 Tufts Street site. That person contacted the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Environmental Health (MDPH/BEH). What a Smart Resident.
The resultant January, 2009 report states (p.6): “Currently, both soil on the 50 Tufts Street site and groundwater in the vicinity of the site are known to be contaminated with tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and other chlorinated chemicals. During the site investigation process, a plume of PCE was discovered in groundwater moving away from the site to the east-northeast. The extent of the contaminated groundwater has been estimated based on sampling and analysis results in monitoring wells and is reported in the Comprehensive Site Investigation (CSI) for the site [GEI 2008]. Figure 1 is a map showing the location of the site, the neighborhood under discussion, and a school in the area, the Capuano School. “
For more information on the safety and health risks associated with PCE, see: Toxicological Profile for Tetrachloroethylene. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
In 2010, Somerville received a $200,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment grant. These community-wide hazardous substances grant funds will be used to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments in the East Somerville and Union Square areas. Grant funds also will be used to update the city’s database and support community outreach activities.
(Cautionary Tale: in April 2005, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued a $70,000 grant to City of Somerville as part of Urban Brownfields Site Assessment Program towards the demolition of the Public Safety Building and remediation of the site. Yet, the PSB has still not been demolished and is in active use. )
ENVIRONMENTAL- ASTROTURF
MAYOR JOE’S ASTROTURF MEANS ADDED CONTAMINANTS & ADDED COSTS
As Representative Denise Provost has so elegantly stated:
The first task of environmental stewardship for our city government is damage control – holding the line on any further deterioration of Somerville’s environmental assets…”
Yet, in June 2008, Joe spent over $680,000 to lay down a new Astroturf field at Glen Park. The buzz is that Joe wanted to lure the Kraft group to build a soccer field down the road.
ADDED CONTAMINANTS
Astroturf is a synthetic turf material which has a maximum lifespan of 10 years. In January 2008, a deteriorating Astroturf field in Newark, NJ was categorized as a Public Health Hazard, due to elevated lead concentrations in surface dust. The City had to close that field to residents until the synthetic field surface was removed. (That field surface was called AstroTurf XL and was approximately ten years old.)
More recently, Dioxin contaminants (DLCs) were found on residential property along a Michigan floodplain based on 48 flood-deposit sediment samples from Astroturf mats secured along the route. The study concluded that “people living in that residential area breathed, touched, and accidentally ate DLCs in soil and dust for a year or longer, and this may have harmed their health.” (page 16 of 32)
There is, as yet, no clear conclusions regarding the potential heavy metals exposure rates and health outcomes for children who have regular contact with Astroturf. Children and residents are exposed through dermal contact, ingestion, soil erosion and leaching.
“It is predicted that chemicals leaching from synthetic turf materials occurs slowly, and as a result the environmental harms may take place over many years.” (Source: T. Kallqvist, Norwegian Institute for Water Research(NIVA), Environmental Risk Assessment of Artificial Turf Systems, December 2005, p. 5 cited by KEM, Swedish Chemicals Agency, Facts: Synthetic Turf, April 2007.)
If the Astroturf contains rubber crumb, it will leach the following compounds into groundwater: Benzothiazole (a skin and eye irritant), Butylated hydroxyanisole (a “recognized carcinogen, suspected endocrine toxicant, gastrointestinal toxicant, immune toxicant, neurotoxicant, skin and sense-organ toxicant”),n-hexadecane (a severe irritant), and & 4-(t-octyl) phenol (“corrosive and destructive to mucous membranes”)” (Source: The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Examination of Crumb Rubber Produced from Recycled Tires, August 2007; Environment & Human Health, Inc., Artificial Turf, Exposures to Ground-Up Rubber Tires, 2007.)T
The pigment in these Polyethylene fibers is often lead chromate. (Source: Megan Carter-Thomas. “Evaluating Heavy Metals in Artificial Turf Fields: Leaching Mechanisms and Exposure Pathways,” Wellesley College, 2008. )
ADDED COSTS
Artificial turf has a life span of 8 to 10 years. The costs of installing and maintaining artificial turf must include the costs of disposal. A best scenario 10-year life-span cost comparison shapes up like this:
Artificial Turf: $86,000
Natural Grass: $68,000
(Source: Fact Sheet- Artificial/Synthetic Turf )
SAFETY IS AN ONGOING PUBLIC CONCERN
The Somerville News crime reports keeps us informed regarding MS-13 activity in the area. Some recent reports regarding crime activity around Glen Park are dated June 23, May 18, May 12, April 19, and April 6.
THIS POST IS PART OF AN ONGOING SERIES on Somerville Parks & Recreation Spaces. Next up: Conway Park.
loading…
Good cautions on the astroturf. You might also want to mention the high heat on the astroturf when exposed to sunlight which is always higher than grass and even asphalt and can go above 140 deg F as the air temperature goes above 85 deg F. We have measured as high as 167 deg F on our local fields when temperatures are in the 90s. Serious skin burns result when in contact with a 140 deg F surface for only 2 seconds.
Note one problem with your posting regarding dioxons however- there was no indication that the mats themselves were a source of dioxins in that situation. The astroturf mats were being used to collect samples for dioxin testing.
loading...
Synthetic turf is recognized by school and parks officials, the NFL, World Cup soccer, and sports and recreation leagues around the world to provide a consistent and safe playing surface year-round, when high usage, climatic conditions, and other factors make it impossible to maintain a lush, safe grass field.
Numerous independent studies validate the human health and environmental safety of synthetic turf. Several were published in the past year: NY State Dept of Environmental Conservation and Dept of Health published, “An Assessment of Chemical Leaching, Releases to Air and Temperature at Crumb-Rubber Infilled Synthetic Turf Fields;” NY City Dept of Health published “A Review of the Potential Health and Safety Risks from Synthetic Turf Fields Containing Crumb Rubber Infill;” and “Air Quality Survey of Synthetic Turf Fields Containing Crumb Rubber Infill;” the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment of the California EPA published “Chemicals and Particulates in the Air Above the New Generation of Artificial Turf Playing Fields, and Artificial Turf as a Risk Factor for Infection by MRSA;” and recently the U.S. EPA’s study of the inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact risks from playing on crumb rubber infilled synthetic turf fields, which reported that every test result was “below levels of concern.” These and many more studies are posted on the Synthetic Turf Council’s website, http://www.syntheticturfcouncil.org, all attest to the safety of synthetic turf.
Concerning the use of lead chromate in pigments used to color synthetic turf, the Consumer Product Safety Commission studied the risks and wrote in 2008, “young children are not at risk from exposure to lead in these fields.” In response to the CPSC’s request that the industry reduce the use of lead chromate where possible, the industry has already reduced the use of lead chromate to levels well below the standard legislated by the Federal Government for children’s toys.
Consider too synthetic turf’s environmental benefits — in 2009, the 5,200 synthetic turf sports fields in the U.S. saved over 4 billion gallons of water, and eliminated the use of millions of pounds of toxic pesticides & fertilizers. Recently, the University of California, Berkeley and the Corporation for Manufacturing Excellence announced the results of their independent study of the impact, effectiveness, and safety of recycled tire crumb in artificial turf applications. Their conclusion: “People tend to think that products more closely derived from nature are safer and better for the environment than those that are synthetic based. However, in many cases synthetic materials perform better than their ‘more natural’ counterparts across the various metrics used in evaluations. This has been shown to be the case with artificial turf, which offers several distinct advantages over grass, while using materials that are already prevalent in peoples’ lives, such as recycled tires.”
I urge the people in Somerville to consider that synthetic turf playing fields will give their children a safe place to play and compete for hours and hours a day, every day of the week, and all year long for many years to come.
loading...
Kathy,
thanks very much for that important correction on the analysis of the dioxin report.
loading...
Creating Access for Individuals with Disabilities more, often than not, creates better Access for everyone. Incomplete & shoddy work only brings about costly corrections and potential harm to Individuals with Disabilities that are residents of the community or visitors.
loading...
FYI Joe did not spend $680,000 to lay down astro field to entice Bob Kraft. Money was withheld from the original contractors for doing a shoddy job. After a series of complaints from neighbors and the Somerville Youth Soccer League, this incredibly well used park finally got the soccer pitch it deserved.
Bob and his stadium are welcome once the train extensions are finished.
Also your photo only shows 1 of 3 sections of the Glen Park Community Gardens. The entrance on Franklin St has double gates, allowing for accessibility to over a dozen garden plots.
In February of 2007, the gardens requested testing of soil, water and plant material for PERC contamination. The MA DEP and an independent consultant confirmed that the gardens were safe to use and eat from. The big concern is and will be indoor air quality.
Yes Glen Park is beautiful and complicated. It’s a work in progress. Recent storms have triggered a closer look at water run off & storm drains on both Glen & Franklin Streets.
loading...
soccermom, is that MA DEP report online? If so, would you please provide the link here on SV? thanks very much.
and thanks for the tip on the gardens. I didn’t know that the Glen Park Community gardens actually involved three separate parcels on Glen, Oliver and Franklin streets until I read the wonderful “Incredible Edible Gardens of Somerville” tour booklet today.
So, wheelchair-accessible, in this context, means that the approach into the Franklin St. garden plots, from the sidewalk, is smooth and level; and, that the garden paths are at least 36 inches wide. Are those the conditions here?
btw, that Incredible Edible Gardens Tour looks to be a wonderful event coming up in Somerville next Sunday July 25! Folks can check it out at http://www.somervillegardenclub.org.
loading...
see today’s (7/18/10) Boston Globearticle about Kraft group/Somerville connection!:
Title: Kick-start for team, city
Revolution owners reexamine Somerville as stadium location
at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/07/18/new_stadium_could_kick_start_revolution_somerville/?page=1
loading...
Thanks for the link to the Revolution article. Very timely.
Here’s the city’s link for 50 Tufts St.:
http://www.somervillema.gov/Division.cfm?orgunit=OSE. Click on sidebar.
Come visit our gardens on Sunday’s Somerville Garden Club’s Garden Tour. We surround the park on Glen, Oliver and Franklin Sts.
While we do have double gates on Franklin and a flat (but not paved) entrance, our paths are 30″, not 36″. So, you’re right, not wheelchair accessible. Thank you for clarifying.
loading...