Why do YOU love the meadows? Share your stories in the comments below, or by emailing savetheFDRmeadows@gmail.com and we’ll publish your words here.

- Save the Meadows

“…Another prominent issue involves the projected use of plastic artificial turf for the playing fields. Artificial turf presents great dangers for our children. It is not only a harder surface than natural grass but it heats up to far higher temperatures in the summer. The potential for increased injuries and burns is why the NFL Players Association has called for the removal of artificial turf from all stadiums that still use it, and why the international soccer organization, FIFA, refuses to play on synthetic surfaces.

Even worse, artificial turfs — including the most modern varieties — are coated with non-degrading “forever chemicals” (PFAS), which can lead to liver and thyroid debility or cancer. These toxic substances would drain into the watershed, and eventually into the Delaware River. This is a blatant violation of the city’s own policies against chemical pollution of local waterways — a matter that the city is acutely aware of, since it is currently suing PFAS manufacturers. Artificial turf is also highly expensive; it must be replaced every eight to 10 years, at the cost of millions of dollars.”

- Michael Schreiber, South Philly Review

“As the pandemic made abundantly clear, Philadelphia’s parks are among the city’s greatest assets. The newly wild and open meadows in FDR Park are an especially unique treasure. In an attempt to prioritize profits over people and the planet, however, the city wants to pave over this amazing green space with athletic facilities when such amenities already exist nearby. This, coupled with the complete disregard for community input that was demonstrated at a “public” meeting a few weeks ago, is not indicative of a city government that cares about its people. This shortsighted proposal would do irreparable harm to a park beloved by residents from all over the city and furthermore is completely misaligned with efforts to impede climate change. The park is not for sale and it is time for city government to reconsider its master plan and include its constituents in decisions that directly affect them.”

— Beatrice Zovich / South Philly Review

“With four years to go before FDR assumes its new form, there will be other chances to tweak the plan. Many have criticized the decision to build artificial turf playing fields. They’re also concerned that the fields will be locked when not in use. Those are details that can be modified.

Funding is the more immediate issue. It will be tempting for the Fairmount Park Conservancy to rent out FDR beauty spots, such as the boathouse and the gazebo, for a constant stream of weddings and parties.

That monetization itch isn’t unique to FDR park. We need to have a citywide conversation about how we pay for our parks and what level of privatization is acceptable. We also need to talk about making our parks resilient to climate change.

Conveniently, there is a mayor’s race coming up next year.”

— Inga Saffron

“I was a park ambassador for FDR in 2018 to collect surveys of what the Latino community wanted to see at the park. It’s appalling to see the lack of transparency and twisting of data to fit a narrative where it makes sense to chop down fields of meadow and trees. At no point during the planning process were we told about the environmental impacts and destruction at the park.

My community, in particular the latine soccer players and folks vending food on the weekend, had very clear priorities: cleaning up the current soccer field, creating a safer playground and having bathrooms with handwashing sinks nearby. None these have been prioritized before the $30,000,000 investment to destroy the meadows.

The meadows provide respite for our community and natural wildlife. Destroying this oasis to create a for-profit commodity sends a strong message that Parks and Rec commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell and park director Justin DiBerardinis care more about “soccer professionals” than the general public. The needs expressed in the 2018 surveys have been completely ignored.”

— Carolina Torres / Park Ambassador

“Last week’s article entitled “A 33-acre wetland project at FDR Park will break ground soon” by Ximena Conde missed a crucial part of the plan to redevelop the Park. That is, an astounding 84 acres of the wetlands will be irreversibly destroyed for the construction of 36 total sports fields and courts. This plan was constructed largely without engagement from the public. As a resident of South Philly, the FDR Park Meadows are beloved to me. I have crushed mugwort between my fingers on a foraging expedition, been happily lost in the dense bracken while riding my bicycle, and watched planes from the long strip of meadow on the southern end, overtaken by wildflowers. If the wetlands are turned into Astroturf-- a far cry from conservation-- it will be a great loss for many Philadelphians for whom this special place has been a refuge.”

- Ross Perfetti / Park user

“The Meadows is “a place I can breathe again,” says Dominique Messihi, who co-runs a homeschooling pod there. “I didn’t know I needed that until I was there.” And why is this encounter with wildness so utterly refreshing to us? Perhaps because we live in an age where we, for the most part, shape the earth processes that once shaped us. Before us, only a legion of volcanos or an asteroid colliding with the Earth could be the cause of a great extinction event. Now we are the asteroids. Rivers have been dammed, mountaintops leveled, marshes made into golf courses. In the Meadows, many of us feel, at last, this relinquishing of control, this psychic break, this abnegation of a colonizing will. Perhaps we feel the absence of — for lack of a better phrase — a master plan.”

— Anisa George / Forest Therapy Guide

“Funding a public park overwhelmingly with private sources raises access questions as well. How often will neighborhood youth have to watch from the other side of the fence as suburban leagues rent their fields? When a community group wants to use the FDR Park Welcome Center for a neighborhood meeting the same night that a corporate partner wants to book it for a cocktail hour, who wins?”

— Bernard Brown / Grid Magazine