Page 12 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, May 10, 2024 ~ Guest Commentary ~ Moving Forward On A New Plan for Roosevelt Park Renovation F or over a year, we had heard that the Roosevelt Park Improvement Project with artifi - cial turf was “a done deal,” fully funded, and defi nitely going forward, with the break ground scheduled for June. So as we learned this week of the City of Malden’s decision to shelve the Roosevelt Park Improvement Project, effectively canceling the artifi - cial turf plan, The Friends of Roosevelt Park fi nd ourselves surprised, very relieved, having questions, and further inspired for action to right historical wrongs and help solve the park’s problems. Shelving this project is the right move during the current budget shortfall fi scal crisis.The price has grown from a $2.6M project to $7.6M minimum. Spending scarce funding on a park project at this cost, ballooning over budget, would be fiscally irresponsible. The artifi cial turf project would also not be insurable due to the fact it is located in a fl ood zone. An extra artifi cial turf fi eld would also add to the city's burden of aging and expired artifi cial turf fi elds that need expensive remediation and replacement. The question we’ve long urged, of how much more affordable a natural grass fi eld might be, city leadership leaves unanswered.We wonder at this lost opportunity. Natural grass was chosen for Pine Banks track in 2012 because real grass was a quarter of the cost of artifi cial turf. The choice of grass allowed that project to go forward within its budget. Roosevelt Park is next to the Salemwood School and serves as the recess play area for the 1,100 students who attend this school daily.After school and on weekends, the park is in use by youth and people of all ages engaging in free-play, pick-up games, and family celebrations. These primary users would be most impacted by the removal of a natural grass park. An artifi cial turf sports complex would bring many more cars to an already congested area. The Salemwood School serves the city’s largest population of English language learners and the neighborhood is a historically red-lined area of hard working families and residents. The halt of this artifi cial turf project is a win for environmental justice for this neighborhood, threatened by adding this new environmental burden, and a win for the school children and the neighborhood to keep a public living green space that serves as vital public health infrastructure. The Friends of Roosevelt Park look forward to the Salemwood School community, and the adjacent neighbors fi nally having a seat at the table for park planning and design. When we are hearing the ideas for the park design from the children and families of the Salemwood School and the neighbors, we will have true inclusivity.A key failing of the Roosevelt Park Improvement Project was that these major stakeholders were excluded frommeaningful, substantive design input and decision-making power. Because of our advocacy for equity, park projects like Devir Park, Kierstead Park and Trafton Park did have community involvement from the beginning design stages. Now it's Roosevelt Park’s turn. As we celebrate a new chance to come together to build consensus on what is best for the neighborhood and the school children, we continue to believe children are worthy of public living green spaces in which to play, with natural grass, and which are environmentally safe, free from lead contamination, PFAs and other toxic chemical contaminants, massive plastic pollution, and excessive heat.The value of protecting public living green space as in a densely developed city is recognized and supported by leaders in public health, environmental justice and climate science. Over the past fi ve years we have read science studies, spoken with public health and environmental scientists, educated the public and reached out to city leaders on the detrimental eff ects of removing natural green space for installation of an impervious plastic surface.Removing this grass park in a fl ood zone would put the school and the neighborhood at risk for additional serious fl ooding. Removing the natural grass would contribute to a heat island eff ect raising the surface temperature 30-50F degrees in the sun. Artifi cial turf would also result in thousands of gallons of additional stormwater runoff polluted with PFAS and microplastics.These consequences cannot be overlooked when working to build a climate resilient city. Other public health issues we have raised awareness ofare removal of toxic lead soil, increased risk of athletic injuries on artifi cial turf, health concerns over PFAS and crumb rubber, the urgent need to replace the expired turf fi eld at Maplewood Park, and to found a Malden Parks Commission.It is a win for public health and environmental equity to have brought attention to these issues. Over three hundred residents have reached out to join this cause, adding their vocal support for keeping Roosevelt Park a public living green space with natural grass and opposing the installation of artifi cial turf.Advocates for natural grass include many sports players and their parents who have experienced first-hand the negative eff ects of playing on artifi cial turf.The complaints echo those of professional football and soccer players: turf burns and infections, excessive heat, more non-contact joint injuries, infi ll sticking to their skin and clothing and infi ll getting into their mouthpieces. In addition, over 85% of Roosevelt Park’s Salemwood School parents, care-givers and park neighbors expressed a desire for natural grass for their children to play on, as revealed by FoRP initiated polling. Thanks to hundreds of community members and organizations who have been vocal advocates for natural grass for Roosevelt Park, including Alternatives for Community and Environment ACE, the Conservation Law Foundation, Beyond Plastics Greater Boston, Friends of the Malden River, NAACP Mystic Valley Branch, Mystic River Watershed Association and Wicked Cool Mystic, Safe Healthy Playing Fields Massachusetts, Climate Code Blue, Toxic Use Reduction Institute, TURI , Malden CORE, and the many individuals who advocate a climate-smart and environmentally-just plan for Roosevelt Park. This turn of events renews our goals to work with city leaders and neighbor-stakeholders to face and solve the diffi cult challenges of lead soil remediation, while protecting and maintaining this public green space for all to enjoy. We have been and will continue to advocate for full remediation of the toxic lead soil to prevent children’s exposure to toxics. We have been and will continue to pursue funding sources for remediating toxic soil and protecting public green space with natural grass in a historically red-lined neighborhood. (Submitted by Friends of Roosevelt Park)
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