C I T Y L I G H T S


turf ’s warranty. “A few of the kids were also


doing snow angels out of the black rubber and throwing it at each other before going to lunch without washing their hands. All of this on opening day for their new artificial field.” Lundeen is recommending


an opt-out form for parents. “At minimum, they should


not install them in elementary schools until we know more. It’s harder to make young children understand the safety precautions than it is for those in high school.” This is an argument that’s


gone nowhere with the San Diego Unified School District, as all 11 schools set to get synthetic turf in 2017 are elementary schools. Lundeen said the


only signage she’s seen near artificial fields have had to do with protecting the warranty. The city also


doesn’t seem to be shying away from synthetic turf. A 2016 city document lists several parks, including Robb Field in Ocean Beach, with synthetic turf in their future. Robb Field, where Lundeen’s son also plays, is one location that may go against the city’s 2011 synthetic-turf guide- lines that say not to install synthetic turf in areas prone to flooding. Advantages touted in the


Personnel use respirator masks while spreading the rubber crumb on installed turf.


much more expensive than natural turf — both in the short- and long-term. The silver lining for the city seems to be the savings in maintenance costs for syn- thetic turf; this point is key because maintenance costs come out of the city’s gen- eral fund. The city’s argu-


areas). Furthermore, within a 2011 school-district meeting agenda, individual synthetic- turf projects were said to range between $750,000 to $2 million per project. According to docu-


mentation, Byrom-Davey has been installing synthetic turf for the district since at least 2006. As far as cost, Steve Davey countered that the numbers are closer to $500,000 for an acre of synthetic turf. Davey also said that the cost can vary depend- ing on the size of the field and associated demolition, grading, drainage, goal posts, and so on. When it comes


Lundeen said the only signage she’s seen near artificial fields have had to do with protecting the turf’s warranty.


city’s guidelines for synthetic turf are water savings and (perhaps most ironically) the reduction of chemicals used on natural turf. The biggest disadvantage noted was costs for installation, repairs, and replacement. While synthetic turf is estimated to last ten years, natural turf is estimated to last 25 years. The city also did a cost-


benefit analysis in 2011 that shows that synthetic turf is


ment seems to be that if funding for synthetic fields can be found outside of the general fund, then it’s seen as a win — regardless of the actual total outlay. Regarding the difference


in cost, the San Diego Unified School District website states that it costs approximately $500,000 for an acre of natural turf and $1 million per acre of synthetic turf for a joint-use field (the city and schools usually share these


to life span, he said, “Synthetic turf fields normally last around eight years and sometimes up to ten or eleven years. You really cannot put a time on natural grass; it needs constant


upkeep. If you have the per- sonnel to take care of it, then grass can last longer than syn- thetic turf.... “As far as safety and the


crumb-rubber issues, we don’t have enough knowledge of all the testing that was done, but do know based on all the findings the cryogenic rubber is by far the cleanest used and the independent testing shows it is safe. There are alternate organic in-fills being used but continued on page 26


C I T Y L I G H T S


C I T Y L I G H T S UNDER THE RADAR


The Goring of Detroit When David Copley sold the Union-Tribune to Tom Gores and his Beverly Hills–based Platinum Equity back in 2009, the vulture capitalist with Palestinian roots vowed that he was in the newspaper business for the long haul — all the while selling off a lucrative portfolio of U-T real estate that came with the deal. Platinum’s prom- ise to stick around in San Diego lasted less than three years, as U-T circulation continued to plunge and news coverage collapsed, until Gores sold what remained of the newspaper in the fall of 2011 to La Jolla real estate developer Douglas Man- chester. The Republican kingpin frequently used the paper to settle political scores, ulti- mately unloading the operation last year to the Chicago-based company now known as tronc, which has continued to dismally shrink the paper. For his part, the bottom-fishing Gores easily moved on to his next high-profile ven- ture, the Detroit Pistons, having snatched up the professional basketball team at the bargain price of $325 million six months before his U-T deal with Manchester was announced. Akin to years-long declamations by the


Chargers-owning Spanos family that they would never move their team from San Diego, Gores denied having any immediate interest in relocating the Pistons from the Palace, its aging venue in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills. “We all probably have thought about moving one day from our current houses,” Gores told the Detroit News in January of this year. “You still take care of that home and you respect it and it needs to be touched with all your emotions.” He added, “It’s always a tricky thing for us because this is our home and we need to adorn it. At the same time, we understand what’s going on in downtown cities and we’re looking at it very, very seriously.” Now the billionaire has finally dropped the


Tom Gores’s Detroit Pistons may deign to play Little Caesars Arena while awaiting a decision on a new taxpayer-funded arena.


will help revive the flagging city’s economic fortunes. “Perhaps most surprisingly, the Pis- tons may not pay the Red Wings anything to play their 41 regular-season home games at Little Caesars Arena,” Crain’s Detroit Business reported last week. “In fact, instead of a tra- ditional tenant lease payment, the Pistons could be the entity get- ting cash to play down- town.” Details have yet to be confirmed. The


Field of Schemes blog reports that the total cost to taxpayers of the arena project is at least $334.5 million and climbing.


The county’s Department of Environmental Health needs to do better at collecting meth-lab cleanup costs from landlords.


Costly crystal mess cleanup San Diego County environmental health hon- chos have been lax dunning local landlords for cleaning up hazardous chemicals left over from busted methamphetamine labs on their property, an audit has found. “Although 10 collection notifications were sent to the cus- tomer, [the Department of Environmental Health] has not made an attempt to put a lien on the property,” says a report by the coun- ty’s Office of Audits and Advisory Services released earlier this year. In that case, $4669 owed from a June 2013 cleanup remained pay- able on January 2016, 928 days after coming due. A $5751 cleanup cost invoiced in March 2015 remained 289 days delinquent almost a year later. … Should the minimum wage be raised in Ameri- can Samoa? Per a Decem- ber report to Congress by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the question is rife with com- plexity, citing the departure from the island territory by Chicken of the Sea, a San Diego–based tuna seller. “Chicken of the Sea Inter- national’s parent company,


other shoe, cutting a deal with the Red Wings hockey club to share a new, tax-funded down- town Detroit sports arena. The arrangement resembles the way the Chargers may soon share a new Inglewood stadium with the L.A. Rams. Unlike the privately funded Rams deal, the Michigan project is being put together by the city’s redevelopment arm in hopes it


Thai Union (Thailand), closed its Amer- ican Samoa cannery in September 2009. The company relocated its canning opera- tions to the U.S. state of Georgia while out- sourcing the more labor-intensive processes, including cleaning and cooking tuna loins (a low-tariff U.S. import), to countries with lower labor costs.” Hiking the minimum wage, along with potential tariff changes and fishing limits, the report warns, might cause other tuna packers to pack up and leave. “For example, they cited the possi- continued on page 26


San Diego Reader December 15, 2016 3


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