District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka is looking for public input on converting some Seattle City Parks to artificial turf as opposed to grass. He shared the reasoning in his weekly outreach email to constituents below:
Dear Neighbors,
Me and my Office are on a mission to better serve you by helping to deliver the everyday basics in an extraordinary way. This means maintaining a relentless focus on things like public safety, public infrastructure, and public parks! Today, we’re launching a short community survey to help guide our approach to a specific investment involving our wonderful Seattle parks: playfield grass-to-turf conversions.
We have heard strong community demand for more turf playfields in our city. One issue that I’ve seen firsthand is that many parks currently have grass playfields, which can make it more difficult from an accessibility standpoint for those participating in sports. This problem is obviously worsened when the fields are wet. Our youth are often the most impacted.
I am honored to represent a district that has the second highest population of under 18 youth across all City Council Districts. Many of these kids are engaged in youth sports; others are regular users of our terrific parks and recreational facilities. As a dad of three young kids who are active in various team sports, I spend significant time in our parks as well. Note: our Seattle Parks & Recreation Department (PARKS) manages over 400 parks enjoyed daily by park users!
Thus, we have a unique opportunity to gradually convert more of our grass playfields to turf. This effort is necessary to improve safety, help ensure year around accessibility and playability, address fairness and equity considerations (especially gender equity), and fulfill community demand for more turf fields. (For additional background, see this May 2024 article from The Seattle Times).
This survey is intended to hear from constituents in District 1. The curated list of parks in the survey are City-managed and located in D1 (West Seattle, South Park, Georgetown, SODO, Pioneer Square).
Thank you in advance for taking a few minutes to fill out this survey below.
In Your Service,
City Councilmember, District 1
e: rob.saka@seattle.gov
206-684-8801
