Is This Proper City Spending
11/06/2008

Woodstock Park may or may not have artificial turf that is deemed unsafe under their merry-go-round.  Regardless, Portland Parks and Recreation are ripping it out even though Portland Public School’s says that the lead level of a similar turf at Rieke Elementary School is “within the range deemed safe by the Consumer Products Safety Commission”.

My favorite quote from the article in The Bee is by Bob Downing, manager of athletic fields for Portland parks: “On the one hand, the turf in the Woodstock playground hasn't been tested, on the other hand it could have lead…It’s likely that it does have lead.”

My assumption is that Portland Parks is being proactive in remedying a possible lawsuit down the road associated to lead found in that turf.  I’m not sure what it’s going to be replaced with.  Bark looks nice, but if Johnny flies off the merry-go-round, he could get a splinter that could get infected, and Portland Parks can be sued knowing that at least it isn’t lead poisoning.

It is nice to know that we have options when it comes to exposing children to hazards.  Choosing to expose kids to lead, at any poison level shouldn’t be the first option so I’m in favor of bark in a perfect world.  However, in this case, it’s going to be expensive to replace something that hasn’t been tested yet and it can be considered safe.  Shouldn’t testing the turf be the first step?

By Jonathan Davis
Photo from The Bee
 

http://www.thebeenews.com/news/story.php?story_id=122559042942823100

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