Closing Bell: (Astro)turf War
An incensed mother, whose daughter was struck by an errant soccer ball, complained to the Brooklyn Eagle that the south side of Cadman Plaza Park is overrun with soccer games that take place “seven days a week, from morning to night.” Athletics used to wear away the natural grass on this side of the park,…
An incensed mother, whose daughter was struck by an errant soccer ball, complained to the Brooklyn Eagle that the south side of Cadman Plaza Park is overrun with soccer games that take place “seven days a week, from morning to night.” Athletics used to wear away the natural grass on this side of the park, causing locals to call it the “Dust Bowl.” Recently, the city installed artificial turf, which has received a generally positive response, but now raises the athletes vs. children debate. The Brooklyn Heights Association receives many similar complaints from people who fear for kids’ safety, but find the north side of the park too bumpy and, well, covered in dog poop. Yet other residents informally surveyed by the Eagle didn’t see a conflict at all. None of the other interviewees believed that athletics occur 24/7, and they have no issue with coexisting. “People should be allowed to play, said a local caretaker who uses the park. “If we really object, we can move to the smaller park, or use the grass when it’s quiet like now… It’s an open park, you know?”
Soccer Players vs. Tots at Cadman Plaza Park [Brooklyn Eagle]
Turf War over Brooklyn Heights’ Cadman Park [McBrooklyn]
Photo from the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation
To bkre — The housing issue is not related to the size of the land they take up. The housing’s residents will want to determine what activities go on in the park — do you see much organized or unorganized sports play in Barttey Park City? It’s natural for homeowners to want to control their front yard, but it’s also contradictory to the purpose of public parkland. This is the reason that there’s no housing in 99% of parks around the world.
I’m a soccer player in the neighborhood who loves playing games at Cadman Plaza. I’m also sensitive to the fair use of space and to the little kids and their parents who want to play in the park.
A few points:
1) Yes, little kids can play in other places – the natural grass areas, the north side, playgrounds, DUMBO, etc. The soccer games just can’t do that. Is the south side better for certain things? Yes. But, as other posters have noted, you can do lots of things – whiffleball, frisbee, general horsing around – in other areas.
2) I agree that the soccer players should try to be accommodating to other people who want to use the park. I generally play Saturday morning, which is a game that’s fairly mellow, adult and makes a point of leaving 1/3 of the south field free for families. Honestly, there aren’t usually that many family groups wanting to use the field between 9 a.m. and noon on a Saturday, and this seems to work out fine.
3) I don’t agree that small groups of little kids and their parents have some kind of inherent right to demand use of the entire field when there are 20-30+ other people who want to use it. If you want insurance that no soccer ball could ever hit your child, I think that’s an unreasonable expectation in a mixed-use park like this.
I know the soccer players can be jerks sometimes, and I doubt this problem will have a resolution unless some authority steps in. My two cents is that tense co-existence is probably going to be the reality until more fields open up.
Try to talk it out, folks. If that doesn’t work … fume?
My kid and I play wiffle ball fairly often on the north side, with the natural grass. It’s a little patchy, but never had a problem with dog crap. Yeah, the soccer games are pretty intense, but walking around the war memorial takes all of three minutes.
bklyn20 – even with the housing, there are still three astroturf soccer fields planned for Brooklyn Bridge Park, and I think I remember reading that those feilds will open up in about 2 years. Also, the housing (except 360 Furman) doesn’t reallt take up that much space. Even if you took away all of the housing, you wouldn’t have gained enough space to add back even one whole soccer field.
Last time I was there (admttedly in June), the grassy side was not full of dog *&^%. And to correct a few incorrect statements here, PS 8 has no organized play in Cadman–on either side of the memorial building. Maybe kids playing there over the summer are PS8 students, but they’re not there by direction of PS 8. St Ann’s DOES indeed take over the astroturf side every afternoon with the big kids about 3:00 pm, just as younger St Ann’s kids take over Pierrepont Playground (the one adjoining the Promenade) every Mon-Fri mid-day. Toddlers from ILC (day-care/pre-school on Monroe Place) also come into Pierrepoint most days. AND, in addition, older kids from the Atlantic Avenue Y summer camp visit State Street Playground most weekdays, although it’s a pretty pathetic place for them. They sit on the equipment and behave themslelves, although the little kids then can’t play there. AND the big kids aren’t getting any exercise either!
Parks needs to set up times for different groups at Cadman, at least until Walt Whitman Park’s re-do nearby is finished. Parks should also ticket non-picker-uppers on the grass side of the park.
While there are playgrounds to play in for smaller children, it’s not the same as wide open space to run in.
The Cadman difficulty arises because the Parks Dept won’t permit, ie officially block out time, for any group. So there’s a de facto takeover by larger groups on a regular basis. Short of a “play-in,” with little kids and parents outnumbering big kids, this situation seems largely insoluble. Long-term, one major answer would be an aditional (besides 360 Furman) housing-free, ball-playing-friendly, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
here’s the policy then: flat ground for sports. hills for unsupervised spawns of i-had-kids-because-i-turned-45-but-they-cramp-my-style-so-someone-else-please-watch-them moms.
done.
The real grass is full of dog poop and thus not attractive.
I dont really have a pony in this race. I got kids, dogs, soccer players all living in my house. But the present laissez-faire policy isn’t working. People have to pick up the dog shit. People can’t just waltz onto a playing field and kick the entire field of kids off so you can set up your plastic cones and play your games. Parents can’t expect it to be for the toddler set all the time. They’re going to have to police the off-leash hours and set up some time for the soccer players and some time for the kids.
THERE’S A CHILDREN’S PARK ON THE PROMENADE YOU MORON.
you can walk their with your children swingin’ from your mammories.
GOD.
Welcome to Brooklyn
eff them and their dumb kids. i played in p.park and ppl got upset b/c we took up “their space”, so rangers cracked down and moved us. these people want every desolate space to themselves. they dont watch their kids b/c theyre busy chatting bout inane sh.t, and their kids wander away into a group of guys playing. i say fine the incompetent parents. a.holes.