Save The Park!

Sauvons Le Parc!

Thank you for the effort you have put in and the News Bulletin. I was by Kent Park one night off Cote des Neiges where there is a serious amount of astro-turf. But casual walkers-by are fooled. They have put a little sod to make it somewhat natural. But it is plastic all right -- with bright lights and all. Luckily, there is a running track around the playing field that creates some distance from the road and room for a stadium at one end. The entire facility is fenced in. It would be an abomination if anything like that happened to Westmount Park, which is considerably smaller and beautifully landscaped. Congratulations on the press you have been able to organize.

-- Gotham Hooja

SAVE THE PARK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-- Josephine Issenman

Chalk one up for the good guys. Bon Travail!

-- Helene Montpetit

I got the letter from your team. It is very well prepared. Thanks for sending it. When I wrote to George Bowser [City of Westmount Councillor] that was before you [members of Save The Park! Sauvons le parc!] got invited to the meeting [Oct. 3, 2006] at City Hall. I said exactly what Prof. Bird said -- we need all the green spaces we have.

-- Elizabeth O'Connor

Hello...I just wanted to let you know that I wrote several e-mails to various environmental organizations throughout the city affiliated with Sustainable Concordia. I hope some of these organizations respond to your web-site and take action as well.

-- Sara Rodriguez

November 2006

To: Save the park! [NAOP member] Westmount, Quebec

We, the Co-Chairs of the National Association for Olmsted Parks (NAOP), have launched an unprecedented campaign to double the organization's budget...The health and success of our cities depends on the character and quality of the buildings that line their streets and the open spaces that weave through them. We know you share our commitment to ensuring that the large public parks, broad parkways, and neighborhood greens conceived decades ago continue to play a key role in the life of our communities.

The quality of life in our cities and towns across the country lies in these early 19th century and 20th Century-designed parks serving 21st Century residents. {These parks] provide neighborhood solace and recreation with children playing in lush meadows, families seeking out the cool shade...immigrants finding recreation in their city's back yard, and citizens gathering to find relief from congestion and comfort in community. We appreciate your continued support to help us protect these vital resources!

Sincerely,

NAOP, Washington, D.C.

-- Sue West Montgomery (Co-Chair) David Bahman (Co-Chair)

I am so incensed at the thought of reverting to artificial turf in a park. Keep our environment natural, let the kids learn to stand to fall, to get up again..it is life! It is not as though the sports programme in Westmount is that serious. The kids in NDG who play by the hundreds have survived on natural turf. Let kids play... And the adults smell the grass!!!

-- Diane Barker

Great newsletter ![Bulletin#2] It is succinct, sane and summarises the main issues very aptly. It gets me all worked up and ready to go again... we will meet in January on the battlefield!

All the best,

Sally

-- Sally Spilhaus

Thank you for your excellent bulletin [Bulletin#2] And thank you for boiling the information down to the key points. I intend to follow this issue and I appreciate all the work that you and Save the Park are doing to make that possible for us.

-- Gerry Bergeron

Many thanks for the update[Bulletin#2].

So when can we begin the public outreach campaign?

Leaflets, posters etc.

Regards,

-- John Graham

One thing of all your last message [Bulletin#2] worried me greatly. That our(?)municipal
committee could spend (again) our money for an 'expert' opinion and then
suppress part of it 'because it did not support their views'I find entirely
criminal. May we have more details as to who was responsible for this? I
feel they should be barred from civic duty and completely ousted from any
responsible position.
The reference has always been in this matter to the 'southern' part of the
Park. Does this mean the Astroturfing is only over the pitch south of the
de Maisonneuve continuation- adjacent to the old Westmount High [Westmount Park School] buildings?
Not over the main soccer pitch north of this. But, surely this is where most
of the 'action' takes place?
Yours sincerely and with repeated greetings..
Peter White (Melville Avenue)

-- Peter White

Congratulations on your continued diligence and effort to Save Westmount Park. It's an extraordinary heritage that we share and we need to do our utmost to protect it. I am heartened that so many Westmounters, and others, feel the same way. They will surely come out to defend this beautiful, jewel of an asset.

Best wishes,

May the New Year be the best ever,

Gotham Hooja Jaipur Rajasthan

-- Gotham Hooja

Happy New Year...Thanks for your message re the park - it's obvious that the war is not won yet, but good news about the Westmount Park School council coming out against the astroturf.

Best wishes

-- June Patterson and Colin Patterson

Thanks for a most enlightening, clearly defined, and comprehensive report [Bulletin#2]. Thanks for all your continuing work on this issue. As always, if I can help in any way . . .

I will be certain to cancel any obligation the evening that the public meeting is held.

Hope that 2007 brings happy news.

-- Alice Gagnon

thank you
save the park ers

-- Josephine Issenman

thank-you for the update

-- Don Cohen

I am in favour of keeping the grass natural.

J Wm Corber

439 Prince Albert

Westmount H3YK 2P6

-- J Wm Corber

[Regarding article in Canadian Geographic]

That river running under Westmount Park is a metaphorical treasure trove.

(e.g., Imagine the de Maisonneuve Full Gospel Choir welling up on Deep River

-- David Himmelstein

Dear y'all,

Matthew Gray here, who grew up at 52 Academy Road where the park was my front yard.

My mom still lives there.

This is just a quick note to say that I have sent several postcards to our mayor to let her know even people who are 11,000kms know that it's worth fighting for. And, for her to be right around the corner from it and to not know this, is a conundrum to me.

From North Afghanistan, Matthew

-- Matthew Gray

Hi there and thanks for the update. I am no longer working in the area of
Westmount Park but still support the efforts to preserve its integrity. I
thought my Save The Park button might not be appropriate now that I work in
Old Montreal but I'm going to put it back on and tell anyone that asks about
it.
Keep up the good work!
Hélène

-- H. Monpetit

[Response to Bulletin#3]

Thanks for the news

-- Bette O'Connor

[Response to Bulletin#3 and article in Canadian Geographic]

Thanks for sending the article from Canadian Geographic, shall look it up when I'm in the library. Good publicity!

-- June Paterson

Hello,

Thanks for continuing to research and alert everyone to various aspects of this “turf war”. The more I learn, the more I am baffled by support for this synthetic option

-- Barbara Goode

Je me souviens d'un épisode semblable à Montréal vers 1990. J'étais alors responsable du projet de Plan de protection et de mise en valeur du mont Royal au Service d' Urbanisme de la Ville quand tout à coup on apprend que le Service des Loisirs autorise l'aménagement d'un terrain de soccer au parc Jeanne-Mance avec, par conséquence, une surface de gazon arificiel. J' ai réagit rapidement en disant que si on ne peut plus nier la nessescité d'un tel revêtement pour le soccer "professionnel", on peut au moins contester la localisation d'un tel équipement au parc Jeanne-Mance qui est bien, quoi qu'on en ait, partie intégrante du parc Mont-Royal, le "Central Park" de Montréal. De tels équipements lourds, qui desservent les ligues régionales de soccer, devraient normalement être localisés dans les grands parcs d'équipement - ou les parcs de grands équipements - périphériques, dans les zones industrielles desservies par autoroutes, et dotés de stationnements importants. Rien n'y fit, le maire Doré est lui-même intervenu pour confirmer la décision. Je ne connais pas les intentions de Westmount , mais je vois mal pourquoi, comme simple Newtown, elle voudrait se doter d'un tel terrain de soccer - ou de football? - professionnel d'importance régionale. Si oui, le magnifique parc Westmount n'est sûrement pas l'endroit idéal. Et si non, les petites équipes locales n'ont pas besoin d'une telle surface artificielle qui dénature les lieux!

-- Jean Décarie

. Although I am a big fan of Field Turf (synthetic surface they will probably
want to use), I agree with you that certain green spaces should be left for
everyone to enjoy. This turf is good for sports fields (for numerous
reasons) but because of its costs, the city will be forced to put up fences
and lights to administer its use.
I have signed your petition because I agree with you that this and many
public spaces should be accessible to everyone in the city. I also like your
idea of a new "sports area"[A sports area built on vacant land set aside for the super hospital, or a sportsplex built in cooperation with another municipality]. I think it makes a lot of sense and is a
compromise which everyone could live with.
I coach football at Sun Youth and let me tell you, it is never easy finding
a balance between the demands of organized sports teams like football and
soccer and the demands of the ordinary citizen who just wants some green
space to enjoy his day off in the park with his kids. We constantly have
this argument at Jeanne Mance Park (Mont-Royal) and yet we have always been
able to find a good balance which suits everyone.

Good Luck, we just saved one Park (avenue), hopefully we can save your
park.

Jimmy Zoubris

-- Jimmy Zoubris

Thank you kindly for this great digest and update. Keep us posted on how better we can support this cause. What concerns me most at this time however is the fact that apart from this potential turf disaster, the next hurdle for Westmount Park would be to find its original beauty…. and cleanliness, as it once was… I’d read an article a few weeks ago in the Westmount Examiner by a reader to the editor, explaining of the deterioration of the park in the past few years, with lampposts in a state of disrepair as well as our newly acquired friends, the rats…. It was with great awe that I was strolling through the park 2 weeks ago to find a few rats here and there popping out of the snow and scrounging for food… and no, they were not squirrels! Would you know of any initiatives being considered to control this “pet” population, as well as any other to look at putting money in the park for the right reasons?

I look forward to your feedback at your earliest convenience

-- Sophie Meloche

If the plastic turf is such a good idea for a soccer field , why not ask the
mayor and the Council to start a plan of gradual replacement of grass on all
the public fields and parks in Westmount, just for an economy of scale the
city will have a better deal ,and after ,why not to offer grants to citizens
to replace their grass on the private properties with the plastic turf.
After all the grass is replaced with the forever green plastic turf we could
boast that we are a true " GREEN " city , to the envy of the rest of the
world.

And the mayor could even say that by doing that we are saving water (needed
to spray real grass ) less CO2 emissions( no need to mow the plastic ) and
the looks of green plastic ( if high quality !)will never change with the
seasons.

But then we should also consider changing the name of the City to
West-"Ubu"- mount!

-- Cristian Andrei

Reaction to Bulletin#4

Thank you again for this most precious update. My husband and I plan to hopefully be able to attend the session on May 16^th… It is obvious by the New York article that many questions have been raised but answers still remain uncertain… When in doubt, do not action is what I believe is the safest way to go... it’s the old “assumption” principle. Not to mention that should the city of Westmount go with this plan, it may end up in causing harm to its own population as well as the environment, never mind the “outside” population coming in for visits to the park… and such repercussions could indeed be costlier than anyone could imagine in the end. How can we in this day and age conscientiously make such a choice? We would not only be exposing our children and community to such toxins, but have yet to broach the subject of the rats which quietly but steadily are now well nestled within the park’s environment… These two issues combined should certainly be a heads up to anyone close to the community to make us all realize that the city of Westmount is obviously focusing their energies on the wrong issues… Let’s be proactive and responsible and make the right choices!Regards,Sophie

-- Sophie Meloche

We are all gently led into considering the safety and benefits of the
artificial turf.

We should first answer the question: Do we want, in the year 2007, an area
of the size of two football fields be stripped of grass and covered with an
artificial turf surface sprayed with rubber pellets to reduce friction and
treated with "Astro Shield", the new antimicrobial technology?
Do we want to be the temporary dumping ground for plastic waste and pay
between 1.50US$ and 6.50US$ (+ installation) for a product garanteed for a
maximum of 7 years against deffects and discoloration?
Do we want to shift maintainance costs from watering and mowing to chemical
treatments, local replacements and preventing contact with "human skin,
food, moisture, pet urine and feces" by installing and maintaining a fence?

As a community we area spending too much evaluating an idea from the 60s
developped for professional indoor footbal. (The original name of the "new
grass" Monsanto produced was Chemgrass, which was installed into the
Astro-dome in Houston, and renamed Astro Turf in 1966 )
( http://www.evergreensuk.com/grass-story.htm)

We should instead concentrate our efforts towards finding the best
construction for a soccer surface with proper drainage, suitable grass and a
strict maintenance schedule.
We should identify all parks where soccer can be played and spread the games
between parks.
The soccer season should not be limited to the spring period. September and
October are perfect for soccer.

Read this excerpt from Astro turf web site and you will understand how
someone can be mesmerised by this well crafted ad ( most of it surrounded by
beautiful gardens, perfect lawn pictures and bare feet babies):
"It's about creating gorgeous landscapes and beautiful weekends.
AstroLawn®. Yes, it's lush, soft and gorgeous. But it's real beauty lies in
how simple it will make your life. We're talking no more mowing, watering,
fertilizing, weeding or resodding. And you'll enjoy a gorgeous, rolling
green lawn that can be designed to enhance any landscape layout. Incorporate
AstroLawn® with your favorite native plants, xeriscaping or exotic
vegetation to create the landscape of your dreams.
More importantly, our "Perfect Lawn" affords you the luxury of precious time
to spend doing what you love doing on weekends. Roll around on your soft,
supple, virtual lawn with your kids with no worry of dirt, cinch bugs or
grass stains. Tiptoe through your beautiful garden, enjoying your gorgeous
landscape that is sure to be the envy of the neighbors. We know you have
better things to do than water and care for a grass lawn. With AstroLawn®,
you'll enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, without any of the work.
We have recently introduced AstroShieldTM, an antimicrobial technology which
can be applied to the AstroLawn® products for added protection. Bacteria,
fungi, and algae find their way into synthetic turf through contact with
human skin, food, moisture, pet urine and feces, among other things. These
microorganisms reproduce and often result in foul odors, discoloration, and
fiber degradation. Testing shows AstroShieldTM consistently eliminates
approximately 99% of these contaminants from synthetic turf. Antimicrobial
protection is about protecting the environment, your investment and most
importantly your family, neighbors and pet."
The site goes on saying that the "Astro turf" is what Real Madrid and
Manchester United are playing on.
ASTROTURF GAMEDAY GRASST: has the true coloration of natural grass. A double
nylon Root Zone acts as a traction layer, providing fiber support and
reducing the compaction associated with other infill products.
- Backing:Muli-ply urethane backing ;
- Infill: recycled rubber pellets to mimic dirt;
- Grass: monofilament polyethylene blades to produce a realistic effect;
- Root zone: tufted nylon.

With so many Westmount residents working in their gardens, exchanging plants
and gardening ideas, I cannot believe we will succumb to the plastic grass
idea and most of it, pay the bill.
It would be the equivalent of buying today the 4x4 guzzler you never had,
when the planet is looking for electric cars.

I hope that, when this debate is over, we will be able to enjoy a Sunday
afternoon in the park, criss-cross it in all directions, walk and run on the
real grass with all its beautiful imperfections. I hope I will have to wash
the grass stains on my son's soccer jersey and not shake rubber dust out of
it.

Soccer mom
Experience: 11 years

-- Soccer Mom