We are a coalition of leaders representing the youth sports organizations in Cambridge. We have sent to the City Council the following letter on Ahern Field:
Our programs share a key mission: we provide an opportunity for Cambridge kids to play locally and inexpensively among friends — something that is increasingly rare in the youth sports landscape across our country. Cambridge is unusual, thanks in no small part to the investments the city has made.
The city manager has identified Ahern as the best location for a single artificial turf field on the East side of town. Right now, there is no reliable and weather-independent playing field for kids from the East Cambridge or the Port. We recognize that trade-offs are involved, but as youth sports leaders we see a growing need for space so that children from all neighborhoods of Cambridge have access to playable fields and an equal opportunity to participate. The proposed turf field will provide 3000+ hours per year of play vs 600 hours per year (at most) for grass. This is a very real distinction that affects our children.
As a group, we strongly support the renovation of the courts and play spaces in addition to the conversion of Ahern Field to a multi-use modern artificial turf surface. This group also represents many school age children, and we believe this investment will be an important asset for the Cambridge Public Schools for years to come. We hope you will support the City’s plans.
We would like to offer an opportunity for a few of our coalition members to sit down with each member of the City Council and School Committee over the next two weeks. Please let us know when you have 30 minutes to talk to us.
Sincerely,
Irving Allen, Cambridge Girls Softball League
George Alexander, Cambridge Babe Ruth
Bahij Bandar, West Cambridge Little Baseball League
Doug Brown, Cambridge Youth Lacrosse
Kenny Cooper, Cambridge Flag Football
Paul Delvechio, Cambridge Girls Softball League
Andy Farrar, Cambridge Youth Soccer
Anthony Galluccio, Galluccio Associates/Babe Ruth/West Little League
Lissa Galluccio, Galluccio Associates
Jill Gorski, East Cambridge Little Baseball League
Sandy Gould, Cambridge Youth Soccer
Rachel Henke, Bay State Baseball
Nick Herbold, Soccer Nights
Alejandro Heyworth, Cambridge Youth Lacrosse
John Holland, North Cambridge Little Baseball League
David Kale, North Cambridge Little Baseball League
Steve McAuliffe, Cambridge Girls Softball League
Matt Meyersohn, Cambridge Basketball Lab
Drew Motta, Cambridge Youth Hockey
Astrid Poodts Pritchard, Cambridge Youth Hockey
Phil Rizzuto, Cambridge Little Baseball Leagues Commissioner
Jessamy Robblee, Cambridge Youth Soccer
Ruth Ryan Allen, Cambridge Girls Softball League / Paddy’s 5K
Jason Targoff, Cambridge Youth Soccer
Eric Toledo, Central Cambridge Youth Baseball / Cambridge Youth Volleyball
Matt Wiacek, East Cambridge Little Baseball League
A stronger
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Doesn’t Gold Star Mothers’ Park need to be (re-)remediated? Wouldn’t that be an obvious place to put a turf field both since it has to be dug up anyway, and also if there are lingering concerns about the natural surface? Plus way more available parking for sports events, and next to the hockey rink for the two Youth Hockey representatives confusingly endorsing a field their teams never have or will use.
I am deeply disappointed to see these youth sports teams signing on to CYS’s selfish and wrongheaded push to ruin a beloved neighborhood park despite strong community opposition. I know some of these folks personally. They do not in fact “represent many school-age children.” They are the adults organizing these sports activities and while we appreciate their time and service, we did not elect them. Did any of them poll the kids in their leagues, or their parents, about what they think?
The pro-turf messaging has been misleading from the start and it’s reflected in their statement. In reality, Ahearn Field and the area behind the former K-Lo school are overdue for an upgrade and everyone is in favor of that. The only question is whether the grassy, multi-use field should remain grass or whether it should be covered over in plastic turf.
As a parent of a child who currently plays in one of these leagues and formerly played in another also, I am disappointed to see these leagues pushing turf onto our neighborhood because I think many sports parents who oppose the expanded use of artificial turf in Cambridge will be afraid to speak out against it, out of concern that their kids’ coaches and league leaders may not give their child equal support and playing time if they do. This is an extremely uncomfortable and unfair position to place sports families in. We can have excellent youth sports AND natural grass in Cambridge, we should not have to choose!
But private youth sports leagues that believe they have a reason to push plastic turf onto an unwilling community for their own scheduling convenience are one thing. They can lobby the City like the rest of us. But the City has a responsibility to consider the broader impacts of using taxpayer funds to destroy an existing green space in a crowded and hot area of the City that is used for many things besides youth sports (picnics, sunning, reading, dreaming, volleyball, literally touching grass!) and basically hand it over to a particular interest group for their exclusive use.
Worst of all, the City Manager has not been an objective or good faith actor in this matter. His children play in CYS and the heads of CYS have been relentlessly lobbying for more plastic turf for their personal scheduling convenience for years (without telling CYS families what they’re doing- but that’s another matter). Because his children currently play youth soccer, he has a clear conflict of interest in this matter. The City Manager’s failure to recuse himself from making decisions in which he has a personal stake is, to put it mildly, a bad look- for him and for the City of Cambridge.
I hope the City Manager will think again before going ahead with this rushed and ill considered plan, and is he doesn’t, I hope the City Council puts a stop to it. What we need is a green Cambridge, for all children and adults to enjoy.
-Another E Camb Mom for a Livable Cambridge
P.S. Why would an ice hockey league or an indoor volleyball league even get involved in this turf battle? I get that soccer, football, and lacrosse leagues may prefer to have plastic turf available after a rainstorm, but do softball and baseball players like playing on plastic instead of grass? Really? Have you been to the turf fields at Danehy on a warm day? It’s suffocating.