The City Fields Foundation (CFF) "Team" had a history of being confrontational.
As far back as 2007, while attending a community meeting about a CFF project, a neighbor was voicing concerns about the toxicity issue in a one-on-one discussion with a CFF "Team" member. The General Manager of the Recreation & Park Department at the time -- (prior to Ginsburg), approached the two with a bottle of water in hand.
"Did you ever drink a bottle of water?", the GM interrupted. The two continued their conversation. "You know there’s lead in water,” the GM insisted as he moved in closer. "Give us a second”, the neighbor requested as he held up his hand, which the GM leaned into. The GM suddenly cried out, "Don’t you lay your hands on me! Don’t you touch me!”
Flabbergasted, the neighbor said later, "These people were not interested in a meaningful discussion, to them this was some cutthroat game".
As far back as 2007, while attending a community meeting about a CFF project, a neighbor was voicing concerns about the toxicity issue in a one-on-one discussion with a CFF "Team" member. The General Manager of the Recreation & Park Department at the time -- (prior to Ginsburg), approached the two with a bottle of water in hand.
"Did you ever drink a bottle of water?", the GM interrupted. The two continued their conversation. "You know there’s lead in water,” the GM insisted as he moved in closer. "Give us a second”, the neighbor requested as he held up his hand, which the GM leaned into. The GM suddenly cried out, "Don’t you lay your hands on me! Don’t you touch me!”
Flabbergasted, the neighbor said later, "These people were not interested in a meaningful discussion, to them this was some cutthroat game".
In a ludicrous attempt at twisted logic, a frequent accusation levied by CFF supporters against children health care advocates was that they really did not care about children -- whenever the advocates presented toxicity studies involving the chemicals found in SBR.
Ginsburg repeatedly asserted that he was striving for transparency and inclusiveness -- yet, a review of his schedule seems to indicate that inclusiveness seemed primarily limited to regularly scheduled private biweekly meetings between himself and CFF director Hirsch -- or with CFF supporters.
Ginsburg repeatedly asserted that he was striving for transparency and inclusiveness -- yet, a review of his schedule seems to indicate that inclusiveness seemed primarily limited to regularly scheduled private biweekly meetings between himself and CFF director Hirsch -- or with CFF supporters.
A CFF spokesperson insisted that, “they [CFF] desired neighborhood input and debate" -- yet in 2009 when Jewish Community High School tried to organize a panel debate about the SBR projects they were rebuffed by CFF. The school was told by CFF that, "The Rep from the City Fields Foundation would not agree to sit in a panel with someone else."
San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius, an ardent supporter of the CFF “Team”, promoted further divisiveness when he wrote, “Matters reached a new low recently when a fake e-mail was sent out”. Nevius reported that an email had been sent to soccer leagues from someone falsely claiming to be from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Nevius did not disclose who had supplied him with the email -- but as it turned out, it was a real email from a real concerned doctor, who had not claimed any affiliation with the NIH. The doctor had merely reached out to some youth soccer coaches with a video link to encourage them to promote healthy lifestyles and safe washing practices to their kids after exposure to the SBR dust on the playing fields.
Regardless -- Ginsburg seized the opportunity to pump up paranoia and accused the sender of the email of trying to scare “the bejesus out of parents and kids”.
Regardless -- Ginsburg seized the opportunity to pump up paranoia and accused the sender of the email of trying to scare “the bejesus out of parents and kids”.
Another desperate incident occurred when an Assistant Superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, Dr. John Rubio, who was speaking in support of a CFF SBR project, went so far as to publicly besmirch the integrity of an elementary school girl.
Rubio falsely and pointedly accused the 11 year old child of strategically withholding information after she had spoken just before him at a Commission hearing about testing she had done to detect toxins in SBR synthetic fields in San Francisco -- and about their effects on the environment.
Rubio falsely and pointedly accused the 11 year old child of strategically withholding information after she had spoken just before him at a Commission hearing about testing she had done to detect toxins in SBR synthetic fields in San Francisco -- and about their effects on the environment.
In 2009, the State of California won a lawsuit against manufacturers of synthetic turf based on the high levels of lead found in their products. Despite growing scientific documentation and demands from the public to conduct what should have been a mandatory Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for their projects, the San Francisco Planning Deptartment instead repeatedly exempted every CFF project.
Even so, the word was getting out about the health risks inherent to SBR synthetic turf . A Huffington Post article about a CFF project posed the question, “How is that we [have] come to believe that it's OK to let children play in tire waste?”