Suggesting playfields in Seattle have artificial turf is like proposing tanning salons on the beaches of Waikiki. Our rain makes grass grow like crabgrass, so why do we want plastic rugs for our kids to play on?

It may be obvious, but that very rain that makes us the Evergreen State also makes playfields mud swamps hardly worthy of hoards of kids to play untold hundreds of soccer, baseball and even ultimate Frisbee games.

In recent weeks, the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department has decided to put artificial turf at Loyal Heights Playfield over the objections of some old school "real grass" lovers. Some get so upset that they condemn the advent of plastic grass as the death knell of their parks and their neighborhood. One person pronounced the park was "no longer a place for neighbors."

In another instance where artificial turf was an issue was at Hiawatha Playfield when it was deemed too soggy for athletics, then changes made it too coarse and finally it was made too soft for use. Old ground up brick bits were hauled off and replaced with sand and dirt to become what remains as a less than all-weather surface. An attempt to raise $2 million for artificial turn apparently failed because no artificial turf was installed.

When deciding to put in fake grass at Loyal Heights, Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds said it "serves the greater good of Seattle park users. The primary use of the playfield has been and will continue to be for sports."

An official of the Seattle Youth Soccer Association came back with, "In an ideal world, it would all be grass parks, but we live in Seattle, not Southern California."

Those who are upset at the change need to remember the world is not about to end. As the president of the Ballard Little League said, "I don't think that having a non-grass park or field is going to change the dynamics of the neighborhood."

If artificial turf will solve the soggy conditions of Seattle parks and provide year-round sites for youth to have their games, then the investment is worth the muttering of the purists.