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Residents urge city to test more parks after toxic soil results at Gold Star Mothers Park
Summary
At the Oct. 6 Cambridge City Council meeting, residents pressed the city to test other neighborhood playgrounds after published soil tests showed very high levels of lead, cadmium, arsenic and other contaminants at Gold Star Mothers Park, which the city closed earlier.
Catherine Ahern, a resident of 13 Seventh Street, told the Cambridge City Council on Oct. 6 that published soil tests for Gold Star Mothers Park showed “multiple levels of toxins” far above commonly cited safety charts and that the city’s closure of the park, while needed, left families uncertain where children can play safely.
Ahern said the city’s September 11 results showed lead concentrations in the Gold Star playground area as high as 8,200 parts per million, cadmium as high as 210 parts per million, arsenic at 100 parts per million and other contaminants well above reference charts she consulted. “My family was both saddened and scared to learn of the toxic results but the city's quick closure of the Gold Star spaces and open publication of its findings and plans have been a small consolation,” Ahern said.
The public commenter noted the playground area had been built up, she said, to “insulate the play space from historical uses of the land,” and asked city officials to explain how testing missed contamination and to test nearby parks used by day cares and families, including Silver Park and the playgrounds often used by local child-care programs.
Other speakers at the same meeting reiterated calls for more testing. Justin Safe, who spoke during public comment, urged testing of all parks in East Cambridge after the Gold Star results. Heather Hoffman said parts of the Russell Field and surrounding sites are slated for major construction and soil disturbance and urged the city to “do the drilling and check these things.”
The meeting transcript does not show a council vote or new directive on additional park testing during the Oct. 6 session. City staff previously published test results for Gold Star Mothers Park and closed the affected areas; those published results were the basis for the public comments at this meeting.
The comments reflect parents’ and residents’ anxiety about exposure risks for children and day-care groups that regularly used the park. Speakers asked the council for clearer information about which nearby play areas are safe and for a timeline for additional testing and remediation.
The council did not take a recorded substantive vote on testing other parks during the portion of the meeting in the transcript.
