From A Walk in the Park:A city plan to rebuild one of The Bronx's biggest sports fields has morphed into a money pit for taxpayers, according to the New York Post.
Workers renovating Harris Field in Bedford Park recently uncovered contaminated soil under the playing surfaces, helping push the anticipated cost to nearly $14 million, city officials told The Post.
The price tag for the renovation had already gone from the $6.6 million announced in 2007 to $8.7 million, records show.
Now the Parks Department is confirming that it has to add another $5.2 million for cleanup because of the high levels of lead unearthed while workers were preparing to install drainage-system tanks needed to restore the popular park's six playing fields.
The original playing fields at the park were grass, but the city plans to cover two with synthetic turf.
A Parks Department official wishing to remain anonymous said that contamination wouldn't be an issue if all the fields were going to be grass but that replacing two with turf requires digging deeper to install the drainage tanks. Karp says this is untrue.
The project's long delays are crippling a popular Little League that plays there.
Yeah, but somebody's friend is getting a fat contract out of all this. So it's all good.
2 comments:
This is similar to the Elmhurst Park featured in Queens Crap yesterday. If it is not about the type field being installed it is really about the contractor winning big time with delays and re-designs allowing the contractor to reap bigger profits. All these parks are siting on contaminated soil - this is nothing new. If regular, natural turf grass can be used, please use it instead of the costly fake stuff no one wants. This should be a no-brainer!!
What do these nitwits have against Natural Turf (AND Little League teams)? It's not as if the young people are EATING the stuff!!! The artificial turf is dangerous even for professionals~ playing on it causes more injuries than natural grass. Isn't this supposed to be a "green" city?
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