By Nick Lewandowski
For The Almanac
writer@thealmanac.net
Flanked by heavy construction equipment and mounds of earth, several dozen Mt. Lebanon residents gathered on Oct. 26 to rally against the installation of artificial turf at Middle and Wildcat fields, in the municipality’s main park. Members of the crowd displayed signs and punctuated speakers’ comments with enthusiastic rounds of applause.
Mt. Lebanon’s turf project has progressed quickly since its proposal in November 2013, despite vocal opposition from a number of residents. Opponents see artificial turf as a pet project of commissioners and sports groups, which are determined to complete it as quickly as possible despite significant cost and safety concerns.
“This process should have been open and inclusive,” resident Jeff Heiskell said. “The commission has ignored our concerns, and instead relied upon obscure studies from other countries and sales material from turf manufacturers for information. Our Public Information Office has assumed the role of spin doctor, referring to ‘field enhancements’ rather than ‘artificial turf.’”
Artificial turf of the type Mt. Lebanon is installing uses infill manufactured from recycled tires. The tire crumbs are known to contain toxic chemicals, including lead and black carbon. Turf manufacturers insist chemicals remain well within acceptable levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency, and that there are no studies proving a link between crumb rubber infill and diseases such as cancer.
The body of research on crumb rubber infill is fragmented and inconclusive, however. While there is no research proving crumb rubber causes cancer, there are no independent studies proving it is completely safe, either. Many studies feature limited samples sizes and differences in methodology that hamper comparability.
Most importantly, turf opponents say, there are no studies involving young children similar to those who will be playing on Mt. Lebanon’s fields. Young children are inherently vulnerable to chemical exposures due to their physiology.
A recent NBC News report added further fuel to the fire after noting a number of young soccer goalies playing on artificial turf have been diagnosed with blood cancers such as lymphoma. It sparked a call from New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone for an official study of artificial turf’s impact on athletes.
Commissioner Kelly Fraasch, the only Mt. Lebanon commissioner to vote against the turf project, echoed those concerns when she addressed the crowd. She accused the commission and municipal staff of moving forward without proper due diligence.
“I asked for a materials safety data sheet for both the turf bid we accepted, and for all the bids,” she said. “Ultimately our staff decided not to provide all the MSDS sheets because they didn’t feel it was relevant. I asked about flame retardants and static applications. When I asked questions, the response I received over and over was ‘I don’t know, I’m not a turf expert.’”
Fraasch said she asked for a roll call vote on the project so commissioners would have to “own” their decision. “I was not going to let them bully me into a yes vote,” she said, to an enthusiastic round of applause.
Fraasch urged rally attendees to get involved in the political process to shut the project down.
“Contact your county council person, your congressman. We need to stand firm on this issue as leaders, not followers. There is nothing wrong with saying ‘I might be wrong, let’s go back and make sure we’re right.’”
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I did a phone interview today for CBS Radio. Here is what we got from our Public Information Office.
From: LeboALERT <noreply@mtlebanon.org>To: EGillen476 <EGillen476@aol.com>Sent: Mon, Oct 27, 2014 1:03 pmSubject: LeboALERT: The Nov. issue of Mt...
This is an important notice from LeboALERT.
The Nov. issue of Mt. Lebanon Magazine is available at www.lebomag.com. ReadUpdate October 27, 2014 5:15 PM My Lebo Citizens camera man sent me this video. Looks like they are having trouble digging down more than 6".
about dog parks, Fire Department inspections, RED gifts & being a freshman.
WTAE is at the fields. Story tonight at 11,
12 comments:
Will the next "important notice from LeboALERT" titillate us with the latest on the PIO's curly hair ? I can hardly wait !
How soon before the doggie park gets turf?
Can't have muddy paw prints on our leased BMW seats.
With all of the media attention, I can dig it! As for that poor excavator operator - he sure can't - LOL!
R u saying wpxi went back to the fields today?
The High school newspaper is now available online. In the latest edition, the students note that two new h.s. soccer stars arrived here recently from other countries where the stars noted two big differences in youth soccer abroad compared to in the U.S. Abroad, the new student athletes enjoy nicer coaches and neighborhood fields that aren't quite as nice as what they've experienced here.
Interesting... Sounds like more fun at less of a cost. What's not to like? Youth sports are getting too extreme here in the US and I hope the trend starts to reverse itself back to the days of mud, rain, and nice coaches.
The Trib's Matt Santoni has been tweeting about the commission meeting. Here are his latest:
Matthew Santoni @msantoni 24 minutes ago
.@KellyFraasch asks staff for alternatives to crumb rubber turf infill before Nov 11 vote on 'budget cleanup' for muni money going to turf.
Matthew Santoni @msantoni 28 minutes ago
#MtLebo citizen comments over. 5 pro-culling deer; 6 against; 14 comments against turf project. Some anti-cull favored trap & euthanize.
Matthew Santoni @msantoni 37 minutes ago
.@KristenLinfante: "I personally don't think there's any chance of us reversing course" on turf.
Elaine
Isn't Kristen's response as tweeted by Santoni hauntingly similar to Cappucci's response to the CAC construction experts that recommended reconsidering the HS project.
She wasn't going to change course either and where are we on the HS project.
Certainly, nowhere near the $100 million they promised!
Matthew Santoni @msantoni 24 minutes ago
.@KellyFraasch asks staff for alternatives to crumb rubber turf infill before Nov 11 vote on 'budget cleanup' for muni money going to turf.
I left while they were heading into votes. I would have stayed if I would have known but it was late. What does this mean?
7:53 AM, It means Kelly doesn't want our kids to get cancer.
11:15 PM "Pooch" Cappucci and "Strings" Linfante are close Roycroft neighbors, friends and same political persuasion. Surprised?
Is the digger featured in the video hitting swimming pool remnants that were previously dumped on that site? Is this was the field doesn't "infiltrate"? It seems like every new fact makes this project worse, and Mt Lebo less honest and responsible. Where will the old pool remnants go now?
8:54...
Can you say Change Order-- ker-ching, ker-ching?
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