by Caroline Levington
guest contributor

Thanks to the advocacy of parents in our community, the renovation of the Petworth Playground will include a wood fiber surface instead of a poured-in-place rubber surface. We couldn’t be more excited for the expected reopening this summer. I know my family is going to appreciate the two adjacent playgrounds for different ages, the shade structures and birthday pavilion. The new surface will fit the nature theme nicely. And yes, for the first time, we will have swings!

I am relieved that our community’s concerns about the proposed poured rubber surface were heard at last. For months we were told that the project was moving forward with rubber over the strong objections of the community. Finally this week we heard the news that we will get an engineered wood fiber surface after all. This is a big win for the community. When the renovation is complete, our kids will no longer be at risk of ingesting lead from crumb rubber at this playground.

This win was the result of months of organizing among concerned neighbors and engagement with city politicians. It began at a community meeting on the playground renovation with DPR and DGS in October. (DPR oversees playground design, while DGS handles construction and maintenance.) At this meeting we were presented with two surface options, poured-in place rubber (PIP) and engineered wood fiber (EWF). As previously reported on Petworth News, lead was recently found in PIP at almost all playgrounds tested, and some at very high levels. As a result, there was an outpouring of support in the room for EWF over PIP. Despite our concerns, the agencies declined to commit to EWF and requested more feedback from the community.

Neighbors who participated in the meeting began exchanging emails to vent our frustrations and share information. That’s how I learned of the serious dangers posed by the crumbled rubber we currently see at Petworth Playground. PIP is made of ground-up tires and, according to manufacturers, must be cleaned at least every two weeks to remove debris that can cause the surface to break apart. Crumbled rubber no longer provides impact protection. And those easily-ingestible crumbs that stick to our kids’ clothing and hands and make their way into babies’ mouths? They contain not only lead, but also neurotoxins and carcinogens, as Mount Sinai medical school reported to the DC Council. PIP also gets dangerously hot – one neighbor recorded a surface temperature of 180 degrees this past summer – posing a burn risk for kids who often run barefoot from the splash pad.

The group of parents shared our concerns about the meeting with the greater community, and they responded, sending at least 82 personal, thoughtful, and heartfelt emails in favor of EWF to the DPR project manager.

At the following meeting in December, we hit a surprising roadblock when we were told our request for EWF was overruled by DPR and DGS at the highest level. We were baffled and frustrated by this decision. They even brought in the contracted author of the upcoming report about lead in DCPS playgrounds to make astonishing claims, like if kids eat the rubber pellets it’s not a problem because the human body won’t absorb the lead. It brought up so many more questions:

At the October meeting we were presented with two options that both meet all of DGS’ criteria. Why would they insist on installing the less safe material when there is a healthier option?
DC has already banned crumb rubber as a filler on synthetic fields. Why would DPR and DGS continue to use the same dangerous substance on playgrounds?
DGS told us they could not stay on top of the maintenance of EWF at our popular playground. How could DGS’ record of poor maintenance be an excuse not to install a healthier option that also requires maintenance?
Meanwhile, DGS was agreeing to install wood fiber in other communities. For instance, in Ward 3, the Foxhall Playground renovation was moving forward with an EWF surface. Why was DGS willing to install and maintain wood fiber at their playground and not ours?

The decision seemed unfair, unsafe, and inexplicable. So, we mobilized. Several parents made Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to better understand the decision-making. We briefed DC Councilmembers and their staff on the issue. Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd quickly responded with a letter of support to the Director of DGS. Councilmembers White and Nadeau took our concerns to heart when drafting their recently introduced Public Facilities Environmental Safety Amendment Act of 2020 pushing DGS to accelerate lead testing and be more responsive. We kept up the pressure and asked our Councilmembers to do the same.

When these efforts seemed to have made no progress, I agreed to do something I’d never considered doing before – testify as a public witness at the DC Council’s performance oversight hearing of DGS. I wanted to speak out about DGS’ disregard for community input, failure to maintain our playgrounds, and failure to prioritize the health of our kids.

Just before the DGS oversight hearing, I learned that Councilmember Todd had secured a commitment from City Administrator Rashad Young to use EWF at the Petworth Playground. This was fantastic news! Our efforts had paid off.

I decided to go ahead and testify at the hearing for several reasons. First, there are countless other playgrounds and schools within our community and throughout the city that also deserve safe surfaces. If we don’t make our voices heard, the city will continue to install PIP.

Second, we know DGS has not kept up with maintenance of the Petworth Playground in the past, and if our new playground is not maintained, it won't meet our needs and these efforts will have been in vain. We need to work together with the agencies to make sure our playground is a success that can be replicated in other neighborhoods.

In my testimony I asked DGS to use healthier materials at playgrounds throughout the city, and to commit to scheduled maintenance to keep our new playground, and every DC playground, safe for our kids.

Caroline Levington is a 10 year resident of Ward 4 and mother of two. Her kids have attended DCPS and public charter schools and are thriving in Petworth. Caroline is an independent consultant focused on export promotion and investment attraction in Latin America and the Caribbean.