“Turf Has Got to Go,” Says Marte, and Other Supporters of “Touch Grass Bill”
A group of passionate New Yorkers, led by Council Member Christopher Marte, oppose using artificial turf in the city’s parks, citing environmental, health, and safety concerns.
| 28 Feb 2025 | 01:15
Council Member Christopher Marte, front row center, leads supporters in a chant against artificial turf in New York City parks. Marte has introduced a bill that seeks to end the further usage of synthetic turf, referred to as the “Touch Grass Bill.” (
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District 5 Council Member Julie Menin, a supporter of Marte’s bill, described the continued use of synthetic turf in New York City as “shameful.” (
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Local advocate and founder of Save Inwood Hill Park, Massimo Strino, speaks during the Feb. 27 rally on the steps of City Hall, Beyond Plastic’s Nyah Estevez pictured behind. “There is no place for plastic grass in our parks,” Strino said. (
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Standing on the steps of City Hall, District 1 Council Member Christopher Marte, flanked by council members, supporters, and advocacy groups, took aim at artificial turf fields in New York City. “Our parks should be green, healthy, and fighting climate change,” Marte said on Feb. 27. The council member is the driving force behind the so-called “Touch Grass Bill,” legislation that seeks to stop New York City from using artificial, synthetic turf in parks.
He was joined by Council member Julie Menin, who represents the UES and Carmen de la Rosa, who represents the UWS.
Marte said his drive to see an end to turf fields in New York City is due to their environmental and health impacts on New Yorkers. Artificial turf contains PFAS (“forever chemicals”) and unrecyclable plastics, which can lead to pollution in nearby water sources. The synthetic materials also trap heat during the summer, raising surface temperatures to as much as 60 degrees higher than the actual air temperature.
Though they were not at the rally, supporters of synthetic turf fields point to its versatility and it all-weather utility, zero recovery time under heavy use and low maintenance. The turf field manufacturers have been working to find alternative infill materials that would generate lower surface-level temperatures.
Newer artificial turf fields use white silica sand particles instead of the black material derived from recycled tires and while it is a neater, “safer” alternative to the old artificial turf and not as hot as the older turf fields, a natural grass field even on extremely hot days rarely rises about 100 degrees.
To date, over 180 fields and public park spaces in New York use synthetic and artificial turf. Notable examples include Pier 42 and the Battery City Ball Fields.
“This bill is long overdue,” said Marte. “We’ve been seeing plastics take over our whole life.” Marte later led the crowd in a chant: “Hey, hey, ho, ho! Artificial turf has got to go!”
Among the groups at the rally were New York Communities for Change, East River Park Action, Save Inwood Hill Park, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Beyond Plastics.
“We have this wonderful CO2 subtractor from the atmosphere, which is real grass,” local advocate and founder of Save Inwood Hill Park, Massimo Strino told a Straus News reporter. “We’re removing it and replacing it with plastic, which does not do that.” Strino took issue with the city for their official explanation of using synthetic fields. “They tell us that they’re easier to maintain...it saves money for the city, but they don’t consider how much it will cost to dispose of it, that plastic is not recyclable.”
District 5 Council Member Menin noted that the effects of synthetic fields were not known when installed, but now that the ill effects are known, simply not changing the situation is “shameful. We know that this turf causes cancer. It has really negative health consequences, so it is high time to take on this challenge.”
Also speaking was NRDC Senior Attorney Eric Goldstein, who argued for using the scientific “precautionary principle” regarding synthetic turf. “When even there’s any doubt about whether something is hazardous to our health and an environmental threat, we ought to err on the side of caution and get that out of exposing our kids to those kinds of materials.” Goldstein recommended a solution: “It’s called grass!”
District 10 Council Member de la Rosa said synthetic fields are “jeopardizing the community” and criticized the Parks Department for only using artificial turf on long-fought-for park projects. “Our hands are tied,” de la Rosa said. “We have to choose between updating our parks...or synthetic turf. That’s a false choice.”
Nyah Estevez, community organizer at Beyond Plastics, spoke as the voice for the younger generations. “From my early experiences playing on synthetic turf, it’s always been something that feels really wrong, and it’s painful,” she told a Straus News reporter. “When I learned about the public health issue of microplastics... it was a no-brainer for me to get involved with synthetic turf.”
Estevez describes parks as the “backyards” of New Yorkers. “We shouldn’t look at grass as this replaceable thing,” she said. “It’s a natural part of our environment.”
That Marte was sponsoring the legislation was at first surprising, as he was among politicians and city officials present at the opening of the notably grassless—and treeless—Pier 42 section of the East River Park. Its design, artificial turf included, predated Marte’s election.
As it turns out, Marte was paying attention, and made reference to the event during his remarks, noting that he was standing in the 90-degree summer sun, the temperature on artificial turf fields was likely 120 degrees.
Within Marte’s district, there are artificial turf fields at the aforementioned Pier 42; the Murry Bergtraum High School athletic field; and, elsewhere in the remains of East River Park, the ballfields across the Delancey Street Bridge and the soccer field and the soccer field within the John V. Lindsay running track.
Of these, the one inside the track is in the worst repair, and even that’s a World Cup soccer pitch compared to the disgrace the city’s fields most in need of replacement, such as those at Kaiser Park in Coney Island, where even its slightly damp, shoes, clothes and the ball itself are covered in disgusting black crumb rubber pellets.