Field Playground

Field Playground of Oak Park, Illinois.

Background

In 2007 reconfiguring of two ballfields led to large-scale devastation of the natural beauty of Field Playground. Although the creation of a soccer field was thought to be the driving force, it was actually boys’ youth baseball. The director was upset that the existing configuration led to balls hit into right field on the south field and into left field on the north field would skitter along the blacktop adjacent to Horace Mann school, turning singles and doubles into home runs. His solution was to displace the location of the fields. That was the driving force behind the destruction of the groves of trees and ambiance of Field Playground and, with the remediations detailed below, an estimated $2.5 cost to taxpayers.

The executive director of the Oak Park Park District, the head of buildings and grounds, the landscape architect, the contractor, and the subcontractors are responsible for multiple design flaws, lack of oversight, and substantial costs of remediation. Yet no one was held accountable. No one was fired, demoted, or fined, and no lawsuits were filed. The only entity held accountable were the taxpayers, who had to pay what we estimate to be more than $1 million. The remediation continues.

Cost of Remediation of Design Flaws and Lack of Oversight

The costs are estimates only and are based on recollection and reasonable costs of labor and materials. Feel free to provide your own estimates.

Woodbine Avenue entrance ADA-violation

We discovered that a wheelchair could not pass through the entrance and reported it to the Oak Leaves local newspaper. Ms. Grayson wrote about it and the executive director said, “We take ADA violations very seriously.” He noted it would take “an afternoon” to remediate. It took a three-man crew an entire week to remove the fencing and concrete and to replace it. Cost: $10K, $20K, $30K?

South flooding; berm/swale; sidewalk squares

The landscape architect’s design placed a berm west of the south ballfield. With real soil, the planted trees thrived. Unfortunately, the crushed rock ball field, double sidewalks, and berm left no area for drainage and flooding occurred in the area, into the alley and under the concrete. Between twenty and forty sidewalk squares, destroyed by freezer/thaw, were replaced, the berm trees were destroyed, the berm soil was removed, soil was excavated, and a swale was created. Cost: $20K, $30K? Twenty or so sidewalk squares south of the fieldhouse are degraded, the result of poor quality of materials. Cost to replace $5K?

Decorative iron grating

The landscape architect’s design included decorative iron gratings from near Division to around the fieldhouse. They were removed. Cost $15K, $20K?

Crabapple trees

About twelve crabapple trees were planted east of the south sidewalk north of the south ballfield. Although the contract called for use of topsoil, lack of oversight led the subcontractor to use clay. As an article in the Wednesday Journal local newspaper stated, “If it looks like clay and feels like clay, it is clay.” Planted in clay rather than the contracted topsoil, at least have had died are were cut down. The six that have not died are stunted in growth. Compare the two healthy trees planted on either side of the driveway entrance from the alley. They were planted in the existing soil. Cost of planting and cutting down $5K, $10K?

Water sprinkler system

A water sprinkler system was installed in the soccer field. When the head of youth soccer discovered that the spigots were actually within the field borders, he complained that a trip hazard was created which could lead to broken ankles, legs, arms, and head injuries. The spigots were then covered with artificial turf, but that turf was ripped out by use. The spigots were then removed, the holes were filled in with soil, and grass was planted. Cost to install water pipes and the system in the entire field and then to remediate $50K, $100K, $200K?

Maple trees east of fieldhouse

After we discovered the plan to destroy the old growth stands of beautiful trees, a rally on the hottest day of July, 2007, which was covered by Chicago TV, the Chicago Tribune, and local media led to a postponement of the project pending local hearings attended by State of Illinois officials who had provided a matching grant. Three trees were saved, the “Field Playground tree” and its neighboring large maples. The executive director of the park district had four-inch thick gym mats installed around the trunks of those maples to prevent ballplayers from getting injured if they ran into them while fielding balls. Those trees were 300 feet from home plate, farther than any eight-year old can hit a ball! The heat and high humidity captured between the mats and tree trunks led to insect and fungus infestation. When the state was infomed of the problem, the park district was ordered to remove the mats, but it was too late and the maples had died. Cost to remove $2K, $5K?

North flooding and cistern placement

As with the south flooding, the impermeable tot lot surfaces and ballfield surfaces led to flooding at the north end of Field Playground that actually led to partial flooding of the alley. To remediate the flooding, ditches were dug along the north ballfield foul lines and an approximately 10,000 square foot area of turf was excavated into which a water-collection cistern was placed. Cost $10K, $20K?

Splash pad

For decades children cavorted in a wading pool located near the alley fence where the west tot lot is now located. In 2007, that glorious feature was dug up and trashed by a back hoe as we watched. Instead a splash pad was created using a 1950’s era vertical mechanical switch to activate the water spouts. Once activated, the water spouts would remain active for two to three minutes, whether or not a child was actually on the splash pad. Children as young as two years old quickly discovered the great fun of pushing the activation switch and watching the water jet out. The switch mechanism would get clogged from leaves, dirt, and the seemingly inevitable chewing gum and paper wrappers. Many evenings the water could be heard spurting out throughout the night. Another resident has noted leaking from the splash pads jets. We suggested to the head of buildings and grounds that electric eye sensors be used to determine if someone was on the pad so that the water could be turned off if no one was present. His response was “the design is final.” To determine the amount of water wasted, we placed an empty milk container to gather the water from one of the spouts. Multiplying by the number of spouts and with assumptions as to the amount of days and time per time that the water spouts were active, we determined that each summer 3,000,000 gallons of water were used without any child actually being present on the splash pad. Assuming a cost to the park district of $10 per 1000 gallons of water this comes to an annual cost of water not used for actual enjoyment to $30,000. Over the 17-year life to date of the splash pad that is equivalent to about $500,000. The problem continues. We welcome others to measure the water flow and provide their own estimates.

Tot lot surfaces replacement

The crushed rubber/toxic chemical bonding agent tot lot surfaces have 15- to 20-year life expectancies. Within five years, both had crumbled and had to be replaced. Cost of initial surface material and labor, removal, and new surfaces $15K, $30K, $50K?

Bocce ball court

The landscape architect must have thought that an Italian-inspired bocce ball court should be included. After a few weeks, the audible clacking of colliding bocce balls ceased and the court became no more than a concentration of McDonalds packaging, shards of birthday balloons, fruit juice packages, used diapers, and the such. Cost of construction and then removal $10K, $15K?