Monday, May 16, 2011

Test the damn parks redux!

I wrote a week ago about the need for the city to test soil samples from the parks in Salem in the wake of the issues found at Furlong and McGrath Parks. Today, the Salem News is reporting that Gonyea Park, a small playground at the end of Northey St, will be closed temporarily, you guessed it, to clean up contaminated soil. In this case, the culprits are the ever-present lead, and arsenic. Don't eat the dirt kids! What I found both confusing and disturbing about this article is that, as I read it, the problem with this park has been known for nine years? How is it that we've allowed people to continue to use it? The article states:

The finding was reported to the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2002. The EPA then tested samples from Gonyea Park and nearby homes.

How did we not close the park when it was determined to be contaminated? According to the sign at the park, it was founded in 1997. Why wasn't it tested when the playground was built? We knew lead was prevalent, and bad for you, by then.

Gonyea Park

You can see pictures of the park on Salem Patch here.

So let me say it again. Seeing now 3 of our 30-ish parks turn up with contamination issues, it's a terrible sin to not invest the small amount of money necessary to test the soil in the remaining parks. Failure to do so displays a disregard for the health and safety of our park users, especially the children. Mayor Driscoll, do it for the kids! Don't go down in history as the mayor who wouldn't assess the safety of our parks.


  1. Thanks for the good work on this, G.
    Yes, they should ALL be tested!

  2. Though I totally agree with you about the safety of our kids, the obvious reason they have not been tested is because of money. Once tested, they are obligated to do clean-up. Testing may be cheap, but the clean-up is not, the soil has to go to a special landfill in upstate NY meant for contaminated soil & building components, and the removal process is costly as well.

  3. Maybe if the City raises the fees for Winter Island and Forest River park high enough we can pay for the contamination cleanup.We pay taxes that allow us access to ALL city parks but the City decided they needed to charge double for those parks.If we could get $1 for every time our Mayor has her picture in the local paper we would be financialy set.Winter Island is a disgrace yet residents have to pay extra to see how little the City has done over 20 years. The City of Salem needs to get out of the way of progress and start selling property they can't maintain.


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