Not Everyone Is In Favor Of Artificial Grass

If we were under the impression that by installing synthetic grass playing fields in place of natural grass we were doing our kids a favor - and that our kids would be grateful for that fact - then we might have another thought coming.

members of the San Carlos Youth Advisory Council which is a group of middle school and high school students who offer opinions to the City Council voted 5-4 against putting synthetic turf on the Highlands Park Lower Athletic Field. Their reasoning was that in their opinion the money that would fund the project could be better spent on less expensive projects that would benefit the broader community.

According to the plan to install the synthetic grass, it is expected that the affected play space will be increased by 43.5 percent and the annual six-week maintenance closure period would be eliminated.

By the looks of things though, the council will likely ignore the opinion of the Youth Advisory Council, with the San Carlos Mayor Bob Grassilli saying that while he understood the cost concerns "usage always seems to carry the day".

it also appears that the same fears that have been proven to be largely a myth - those of toxicity and injury being dangers of synthetic grass - are still surfacing. It appears that a lot of uninformed people prefer to vote in the negative rather than find out from the numerous scientific studies that have been performed in recent times to determine the safety or otherwise of synthetic grass.