Save Wallingford Playfield- NO TURF!

Hello I have been made aware of the plan to turn the Wallingford playfield, home to families, older folks, friends, people with dogs, Shakespeare in the park, kids practicing, into a plastic turf, light flooding, sports practice for Lincoln High school. I cannot believe this gross invasion and destruction of our lifestyles is being heartlessly done AND without clear consent and input. I have lived by the playfield since 2005. I pay my taxes, and accept all the changes that this neighborhood has made however this is an atrocious attack on our livelihood. I am ready to answer any questions you may have and you can reach me at (206) 409-8763. Lisa Luengo, PhD

Not in favor of taking away more park and natural grass access from residents of the city.

Our neighborhood has very few open spaces. Do not turn our public park into a turfed athletic field.

Please prioritize the broadest range of families who need public spaces.

Imagine all the plastic in this world already! This space is a reminder that we still have natural and beautiful spaces, where people can come together to spend time in non-plastic and artificial areas. Turf is toxic. Do you want your kids to be in contact with that when they are playing sports after school? Or just spending time outside? Goalies are shown to have a higher chance of getting cancer from diving on the turf, do we really want to prove that true? This is an important matter that could affect many people. Please consider the negative impact this will make on our community.

Keep our planet beautiful!!!

We desperately need to keep our natural green community spaces!

Please preserve this park as density increases and families who live in apartments have few options for outdoor space.

Everyone should be able to use the playfield.

I live 1/2 a block from the playfield. It is used by community members ALL the time for parties, gatherings, tennis, toddler playtime, daycare experiences, fitness meet ups, and more. A sports field would take all of that away from every person in the neighborhood who is not on a HS team or in an organized league, esp since a sportsfield will, most likely require that the tennis courts and the kiddie area be eliminated. It would also impact the quality of life for the people whose houses abut the park. No matter what the "modern mitigation techniques" are, light will shine into the bedroom windows overlooking the playfield as it is so close to the surrounding houses.

Hamilton and Lincoln regularly use the existing playfield for PE classes and band practice—activities which the community accommodates without complaint as part of the SHARED use of the field. It would be devastating to the inclusive, family feeling of our neighborhood to turn this park into a synthetic turf athletic field for the Seattle Public School system. SPS is NOT the same as the Wallingford community. While many of our children attend SPS schools, the neighborhood is a much wider entity, and the park needs to serve EVERYONE. The park is a natural community hub which many people here use regularly. The live grass, plants, and trees are an important part of what makes urban living in Wallingford special.At a time when many Seattle schools are going to be closed, it is unconscionable to consider using taxpayer money to destroy a treasured and much-used local park in order to expand an SPS high school. An existing SPS facility should be used to accommodate the Lincoln athletic program.

No plastic fields!!! Tear up the parking lot at Lincoln if the high school needs a field.

We have already had our entire neighborhood taken over by high school kids and their automobiles.

The vast majority of athletes prefer natural grass to turf fields. Turf fields are well documented to cause more injuries. Sure, let's cover a few acres of neighborhood space with plastic, being sure to poison the environment, injure more kids that play on it, create a heat island, and make it unpleasant for most of the current multi-use activities. SPS/Lincoln High made a choice to pave over their former practice fields for a parking lot when they remodeled the facility a few years ago. Clearly planners lied to the community when they said they had no plans to annex the neighborhood park. Why are we trading a green, multi-use community space serving hundreds of neighbors and students on a weekly basis for a varsity practice field serving a few dozen boys? Who thinks this is in the public good?

Let’s keep green space available for the community

This park serves a diverse population of folks from theater and musical performances to family picnics to random lawn and pickup games --Mostly neighborhood folks enjoying some green space and decompressing after work, a space to let their kids play on the playground get their giggles out. On a nice day, this park is very busy and there are enough spaces for everyone to spread out and serve all these activities at the same time. It's a community space. One of the few opportunities to engage with people in the neighborhood without having to spend money. I've met a number of neighbors here. I've learned about the history of this neighborhood. And I value having this green space to relax in. I have a couple concerns around implementing AstroTurf play fields. No one wants to picnic on plastic and stinky rubber. The research is pretty clear that it's bad for bodies. It's also not enjoyable. This play field has one of the few well-kept grassy knolls in the area. This past summer 2024 was the first time they didn't irrigate through the entire summer season like they have in the past. It's often an oasis amidst the dry dusty fields elsewhere in our neighborhood during summer months. If they were to develop this park into a astroturf playfield, I'm concerned that it will be taken from the community. The demand for it's use will shift to other organized sports, limiting community access, as well as the perks of this beautiful park that many of us enjoy will cease to exist. As the area continues to develop and our neighborhood grows vertically, we need to preserve our current green spaces. Perhaps one of the abandoned, undeveloped lots in the area could be transformed into a play field for the high schools? Perhaps we could ask developers that are transforming our city to pay a toll and for every few buildings they also build a green space?

I'm not for laying more plastic down in a park me and my friends use regularly to have birthday parties, gaze at stars and simply enjoy for the green space it is. These ideas to change the park to meet the needs of children is not viable- there is already plenty of mixed use space in this park, including enough for sports. Plus, you will never be able to get me out of the public park, whether you rent it to schoolchildren on some whack hourly basis, or they use it for a day fee. I will be there, using my park, too. I will not let some breeders and their kids take over a green space meant for everyone. It's paid for by everyone and our taxes. So don't think for one hot minute that if you put up rules or change the park plan to a more narrow use, that I won't still be there where I always sit, middle of your play field or not. It's our park, sirs. Not just a few tiny schools and tiny minds who want to gut this park for some kids.

we strongly need to preserve this green space resource for the people of Wallingford and surrounding neighborhoods. High school athletic facilities should be high school athletic facilities and allocated space elsewhere.

No turf! We’ve enjoyed this park for 15+ years with our kids

Our family loves going to our neighborhood Wallingford park. I often marvel at how many ways this vibrant space is used by so many different members of the community. From the celebration of birthday parties, to the splashing in the wading pool, to the squeals of the playground, to groups gathering on picnic blankets, to young adults playing frisbee, to those who lap the park in wheelchairs, to preschool classes playing freeze tag, to older folks relaxing on park benches, to the friendly rally on the tennis on the courts. And so often, especially on sunny Seattle days, this is all happening at once. Wallingford park is special. For in this small patch of land is a true amalgamation of community; a place where folks from across generations come together. What will this proposed new future of polyethylene and organized sports look like? Gone will be the days of the impromptu pick up game and picnics, for sure. And the thing that makes me most sad is that Lincoln HS used to have a playing field and decided to pave it over it for a parking lot. And now because of their poor planning and shifting priorities, they are asking the community to sacrifice a treasured neighborhood green space. Please consider the affects on the overall community when making this decision.