Help support better fields for Sunnyvale!

[Gregory D. Dibb]

Hello sports friends--

I'm emailing my favorite sports groups--I've either been a coach or player with you, so I'm emailing you asking for help. A critical Sunnyvale city survey and decision on the use of artificial turf for our athletic fields is happening right now, and the voices against turf are currently dominating. If we don't act, the city may remove artificial turf as an option for future high-use fields, which will drastically cut playing time for all of our kids' sports leagues.

With minimal effort, you can make a huge impact by following these three simple steps:

1. Complete the City Survey (1 minute)

This survey carries significant weight with the City Council. Please use the link below and make sure to support the continued use of artificial turf for athletic fields.

• Click the link: Sunnyvale Turf Survey

• Deadline: March 6

• Key Points to Note: Turf is necessary because grass fields can't support the demand (turf can be used >8x more). Also, new turf materials are environmentally friendly (like cork/coconut infills) and recyclable.

2. Email Your Representatives (30 seconds)

I've set up a quick campaign that will automatically draft an email to your local representatives based on your address.

• Click the link: Email Representatives Now

• Or Click here to send the Sunnyvale City Council a quick sample email (you can edit or send as is).

3. Forward This Email

The more people who respond, the better. Please forward this email to any of your friends, family, or other league members in Sunnyvale who use the athletic fields.--

---You can also consider attending the Community Meeting this Thursday, February 12 at 6 p.m. at Sunnyvale City Hall.

Thanks for your help!

Gregory

p.s. If you are (however irrationally;) against turf, then please rather than opposing turf (or emailing me trying to convince me) at least push for more & better-maintained fields--the city has demonstrated their inability to provide those with grass, but any pressure to improve fields is helpful, thanks!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<email from last year>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hey folks- I'm emailing my favorite sports groups--I've either been a coach or player with you, so I'm emailing you asking for help.  Thanks to the well-funded efforts of a national lobbying organization, the topic of banning artificial turf is coming to Santa Clara County tomorrow morning, and the city of Sunnyvale tomorrow evening.

I love grass, and prefer grass, but there's not enough grass space in the county to sustain the demand for usage of fields, especially in the winter/rainy season.  Even if you hate turf, please join me in preventing a ban.  Neighborhoods should be able to decide for themselves what they want, not a centralized ban influenced by a well-funded, well-organized national lobbying organization.  As a former member of the city of Sunnyvale Parks and Rec commission, I was saddened to see families that wanted turf in their neighborhood get out-maneuvered by a major lobbying organization.

Please do NOT ban turf.  If a neighborhood decides they need turf, that should be up to the neighborhood, not dictated by the city. We have to have some turf in Sunnyvale to meet the needs of our kids and families.  More info below:

Key point: we all need to be real about who bears the brunt of a ban: it's the low-income kids.  The rest can afford to pay to play indoors, or in other cities' turf.  A vote to ban turf is a vote to send low-income kids back to their couches with tik-tok. 

1. Let's instead ban asphalt & carpet (where people drive and sit) and not turf (where people get exercise)  Let's talk about the big picture. - If you believe plastics and man-made surfaces is a problem, we agree with you.  but look at the facts: The city of Sunnyvale is 35% covered in buildings (most of which is covered in plastic carpet), 40% asphalt, <.01% turf.  Why are we here to ban turf and hurt kids sports and recreation? let's instead ban asphalt & carpet!  We could reduce carpet and asphalt by 0.01% and have more impact on the health of Sunnyvale residents than banning turf. 

2. Turf is a necessary alternative to grass.  Turf is 6-10x more usable and better quality, We are not asking for 90% turf fields.  We are asking for some turf fields so we can Play when when fields are wet, not canceling so many games.  Also we save many SCARCE volunteer hours required for field prep & painting lines in advance. The city has almost insurmountable constraints to fund and maintain good quality grass fields year round as they have demonstrated. In fact banning turf decreases the health of Sunnyvale residents because it decreases the amount of time we can be outside in recreational activities.

3. Let's reduce plastic where it matters, NOT on turf fields. Even for a child who plays on turf 5 hours a week, that is less than 0.1% of their exposure to plastic! We should reduce where it matters: Plastic water bottles, dishes, diapers, blankets, pajamas, toothbrushes, clothing, carpet, cars, cooking pans, contact lenses!  

4. Turf is LESS injuries than grass and definitely less than other playing surfaces.  Before banning turf we should rip out all polyurethane coated wood basketball floors, or tar coated blacktops at schools and playgrounds, acrylic-coated tennis and pickleball courts, forcing them to switch to grass tennis courts and badminton!

5. Turf means healthier kids and a healthier community. Because of increased ability to play on turf, Sunnyvale can and will exercise more!  The top 10 causes of death and disease are all reduced by exercise, along with anxiety and depression!. Banning Turf would reduce community exercise much much more than any other yet-unproven health risks. 

5. If we ban turf,  Low income kids are the victims , and there will be no measurable improvement on the other issues.. Parents who can afford will pay for their kids to play through rain, either at turf fields in MV/LA/PA (20+ turf fields there), or indoors under fluorescent lighting.  And the low income kids will stay home on their plastic couches watching tik-tok on their plastic phones.  You all have to see that would be the biggest impact of this ban!! 

Therefore: Please vote to not only not ban, but increase turf fields in the city. Turf technology is getting better all the time, why ban what we will need in the future now?   To vote to ban turf would be a vote to ignore the actual impact, and to ignore the bigger problems, to pretend that we are making things better; but in reality banning turf would make Sunnyvale worse, especially for low-income kids.