It’s hard to believe it, but the Lincoln Park soccer field controversy continues to reverberate.

Considering that members of Protect Our Parks (POP) met through my writing about the field, I thought I’d give you a heads up that POP president Herb Caplan will be on his soapbox on Saturday, sometime after 2:30 p.m., at the Bughouse Square Debates in Washington Square Park at Walton and Dearborn. (Want to volunteer for POP that day? E-mail Old Towner Eury Chrones, eurydice.chrones@mac.com.)

Caplan, a Lake View resident, said he’ll discuss the provisions of the Citizen Participation Act and relate it to the adventures of POP in the courts and the sanctions order entered against POP being appealed (one of those sanctions is a $54,000 fine against him).

He’ll also talk about other laws that permit citizens to sue public officials and recover all their attorney’s fees and litigation costs.

Caplan said his debate topic is, “Sharp Tongue versus Forked Tongue — How to Fight City Hall.”

“I plan to hammer upon the obligation of aggrieved citizens to fear not, and stand up to oppose abuses of political power,” he said.

The court battle still continues regarding the soccer field, which you may recall was part of a secret deal a few years back between the Latin School, a private institution, and the Chicago Park District. The deal was voided after POP challenged it in court, but along the way it turned into a multi-layered lawsuit. You can also ask Caplan about where things now stand and POP’s next steps.

Caplan told me that so far, the trial court’s orders are the most “egregious and overtly biased” he’s experienced in more than 50 years of trials and appeals.

Additionally, Caplan said the “clout of Latin and the political power of the mayor has co-opted or intimidated everyone — including Friends of the Parks and the Lincoln Park Advisory Council — from speaking out or assisting POP in the litigation.”

“All the firms with pro bono programs have given POP the cold shoulder,” Caplan said. “So I have by default become the beleaguered new lakefront Daniel Burnham and Montgomery Ward, laboring to keep Lincoln Park ‘forever open, clear and free.’”

In a July 16 settlement with California Attorney General Jerry Brown, FieldTurf, which produced the artificial turf in Lincoln Park, and two other companies were fined a total of $667,500 in penalties and fees, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

As a result of the settlement will “eliminate nearly all lead” from FieldTurf products, the Chronicle reported, no more than 50 parts per million.

The fields referenced in the California case were installed prior to November 2003. That’s when the company reformulated its products, Darren Gill, vice president of global marketing for FieldTurf, wrote in an e-mail.

In June 2008, Gill said, FieldTurf’s products were certified lead free.

“As the Latin School of Chicago-South Lincoln Park athletic field was installed in October of 2008, I can attest to the fact that the field is lead free and completely safe,” Gill wrote in an e-mail.

So maybe it’s just because he’s not from around this neck of the woods, but it’s interesting that Gill called the area, the “Latin School of Chicago-South Lincoln Park athletic field.”

Seems a lot of people still call it something like that. But then around here, there’s usually a swear word before the word “Latin.”

All I know is I’m glad I don’t have kids who play on that fake turf. Because who knows what they’ll find out about this newer, “lead-free” material, a decade or so from now.

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By Charlie from Gold Coast
Posted: 07/28/2010 10:44 PM

The soccer field is used every day, even when the surrounding fields in Lincoln Park are too wet and muddy to play on. You might consider the possibility that the reason POP can't drum up supporters for its litigation efforts at this point is that most people are happy the field is there.