New York is commonly referred to as the concrete jungle. Basketball courts, asphalt playgrounds, and hundreds of miles of sidewalk are the images one recalls when someone thinks about New York City. All of its greenery is supposedly kept up in that gigantic, rectangular, famous Central Park, right? Wrong.

In 1998 Chelsea Park became the first park in Manhattan to be done over in Artificial Turf. On the west side of the island, this big sports complex is now a host to city-wide soccer teams, and active New Yorkers.

The problem with grass is that it constantly needs to be maintained, this is why New York generally defaults to asphalt, because it only needs the occasional patch work and crack fills for when it breaks down. Also, in order for grass to regrow, the fields need to be temporarily closed. When you look at New York’s long winter, and then ask them to close their fields even longer, this shortens precious outdoors time.

In 2001 Mayor Bloomberg vowed that his administration would seek out asphalt fields/courts and replace then with synthetic turf, and now New York is the largest buyer of synthetic turf nationwide.

Shouldn’t other cities follow suit?