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Crews lay down artificial turf on Naples High football field
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Crew members with Ballard Sports were out early Tuesday to work on laying down the artificial turf on the Naples High School football field. The Naples High School field is composed sections of artificial turf sewn together over a base of sand and gravel.
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Crew members with Ballard Sports were out early Tuesday to work on laying down the artificial turf on the Naples High School football field.
Ballard Sports, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based company with offices in Florida, specializes in both natural and artificial turf fields. The Naples High field has sections of turf sewn together over a base of sand and gravel. A layer of rubber and sand is then added to help prevent injuries while lowering maintenance costs.
Naples, Immokalee and Lely all will have new fields for the 2008-09 football season, while Golden Gate, Gulf Coast and Palmetto Ridge are on the project board for 2009. Barron Collier’s field was done in 2007.
The price tag on the artificial fields has turned some heads, especially when a statewide revenue shortfall is causing the school district to make budget cuts. The $2.7 million used to pay for this season’s three fields, though, will come out of capital dollars, separate from the district’s operating fund.
After the initial cost, the Field Turf will save the district more than $700,000 over the next 10 years in maintenance, said Richard Clukey, the district’s executive director of support services.
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Why are we wasting taxpayer money on this? And correct me if Im wrong, but wasn't Barron Collier's artificial turf bought by their own athletic boosters? Will the county reimburse them for the project?
#1 Posted by schlogz on June 11, 2008 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Priorities. Gotta love em.
#2 Posted by ecoterror on June 11, 2008 at 7:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
schlogz,
Barron's turf was paid for with tax dollars too.
#3 Posted by mama on June 11, 2008 at 12:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
WHAT ABOUT OUR TEACHERS??????
#4 Posted by surffreak2018 on June 11, 2008 at 2 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope the Collier County School Department realizes that they will now need to spend an equal amount of money on the fields used by the girls teams, You see in this day and age you have to spend equally for both girls and boys if they do not then they will have to cut boys programs to make sure the spending between the two is equal.
You can not provide something for one and not the other, federal law.
#5 Posted by kneejerk on June 11, 2008 at 2:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Also why does this article not say how much this will cost. It is a glaring omission and why is this a sports story. Sports stories deal with sporting events. This deals with spending tons and tons of money, looks almost deliberate in both omissions and placement.
#6 Posted by kneejerk on June 11, 2008 at 2:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
# 2 and # 4 ........ my thoughts exactly when I first saw this article.
How sad what priorities they put over childrens eduation and teachers.
#7 Posted by Nplschick on June 11, 2008 at 4:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
From article: "The $2.7 million..."
-------
What a waste of money!
http://www.dennisthompsonbackgroundqu...
#8 Posted by flcertifiedteacher on June 11, 2008 at 7 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I wrote a letter to the editor on this that was supposed to run, and mysteriously didn't. I mentioned a web site that outlines some research on these fields.
Did you know... that on a 98 degree day the field can heat up to 170+ degrees?
That the boys are advised to wear under armor long-sleeved shirts because of getting sexcremented up?
That the field must be diligently sanitized due to all the blood, sweat, etc. that accumulates? On real grass it is naturally absorbed.
My son will be playing on that field and I am very concerned. Oh, and as a teacher... I think this is a slap in the face to all of us who wanted a raise, only to be told the money wasn't available. Yes, I know it comes from "different pots", but the referendum was being discussed at the time.
This sends me a very clear message: Athletics wins over Academics. It would have gone a long way for Thompson to have said that he wanted to delay this project out of respect for the bargaining process, and how this expenditure might be perceived.
Who rips out real grass in Florida in favor of turf? That's how they do it in Illinois because of inclement weather.
The field at Naples High was being maintained for FREE-- this was announced at every game!!
I believe I read that the total projected cost would be $2.7 million. Right after that story first ran, Thompson said he was considering closing Lely. Let's put some fake grass in, and then close down the school, shall we?
One ridiculous move after the next...
#9 Posted by lizzyb on June 11, 2008 at 7:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
2.7 million is peanuts compared to the amount of money this district pisses away.
#10 Posted by Sanity on June 11, 2008 at 8:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
For those with kids who are thinking of moving to Collier County..If I were you I would seriously reconsider moving down here until your kids have graduated high school. You don't want to send your kids to school here.
#11 Posted by boyo1872 on June 18, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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