11 thoughts on “Residents Air Concerns Over Artificial Turf & Field Sharing with BB&N, Council Maintains Agreement

  1. Sharing I signed the petition with Janet Buck on May 10th, 2021 in person sharing we were against an artificial turf. My saved texts document this.

  2. Things could have been worse. If BB&N didn’t acquire the land for athletic fields, it would have been bought by a developer for condos/apartments or yet another life science lab, both of which Watertown could use less of, not more.

  3. Clearly the Town Council dropped the ball on this important consideration in this agreement, that is of course unless they decided on their own that artificial turf would be just fine. In the absence of an official response from the Council to the Watertown Conservation Commission’s letter of concern it seems that the Council put little weigh in the input of the Watertown Conservation Commission, a Watertown municipal body responsible for the protection of Watertown’s natural resources. Whether you’re for or against the use of artificial turf the wording used in the agreement was “green open space” that certainly does not mean the color green. It is exactly what Ms Thomas believes, that is, the term green, when used in the context of open space, unequivocally describes a natural condition, in this case natural grass.

    While Council President Sideris may have fairly described the intent of the meeting it does not excuse him or the other Council members from seemingly missing or ignoring this important detail before entering into the agreement.

  4. All those hours spent by a few in the last election railing about councilors wanting to de-fund the police! In reality we see that the council is a powerless body. Just this past year they showed us they cannot lower your tax bill (even with increased commercial revenue), cannot lower your water and sewer rates (even if they want to), and cannot stop the installation of toxic surfaces within our own community. Instead of making the election about “defunding police” – smoke and mirrors to get a stale slate elected – you could have looked at the facts that the council is powerless to do much of anything. It’s a good thing we have NINE of them!!

  5. Another bad outcome where well heeled interests have been allowed to have their way with our Town. BBN should be paying PILOT. Their annual budget is roughly equivalent to the entire Watertown School system.

    Turf fields are an environmental problem and probably are not healthy either.

    But another bad outcome propped up by lame excuses.

    • Existing laws and ordinances do not adequately protect people from environmental toxins or climate change. It is the responsibility of citizens and institutions to advocate for changing laws and ordinances so they do protect us. It’s also their responsibility to do all they can to protect people, both those to whom they are directly accountable and the general public. BB&N has taken its place among school that prefer to ignore the scientific evidence of the harm artificial turf does to the environment and the climate. When the EPA and the players of the National Football League agree that the manufacturers’ claims of safety are not credible, we should listen.

  6. Charlie, just a slight clarification. I indicated that the runoff from these fields will eventually contaminate the down gradient wetlands and then the Charles River.

    To my knowledge, here are no public or private drinking water wells in this area.

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