Over the past two months, our community has shown up time and again to speak at critical meetings. The result has been a wave of official recommendations from Santa Monica's own advisory bodies, all coming to the same conclusion: plastic grass does not belong in our city's public spaces.
This unified message—from sports users, environmental experts, and park advocates—is what gives our campaign such powerful momentum heading into the final City Council vote. Here is a breakdown of how this consensus was built.
September 2: Community Gardens Advisory Committee (CGAC) 🌻
MOTION: The committee voted in support of a no-turf stance for city parks.
Significance: This was the first advisory body to take a formal position, setting the stage for the wave of motions that followed.
September 3: Field Sports Advisory Committee (FSAC) ⚽
MOTION: Passed a motion recommending a "preference for natural grass in all new fields subject to playability and feasibility impact."
Significance: This was a critical victory. It came directly from the city's sports advisory body, debunking the myth that athletes and sports leagues are universally demanding plastic. They acknowledged the community's concerns and put the burden of proof back on the city to show that natural grass isn't feasible.
September 10: Urban Forest Task Force (UFTF) 🌳
MOTION: Unanimously voted for natural grass over synthetic turf.
Significance: The city's top environmental and tree experts formally stated that plastic fields are incompatible with a healthy urban ecosystem. This confirmed that turf is not "green" and works directly against the city's "City as a Habitat" vision.
September 15: Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice, and the Environment (CSEJE) 🌎
MOTION: Passed a motion seeking the "most sustainable sports fields" for Santa Monica.
Significance: This motion directly links our campaign to the city's core identity and its own laws, like the Sustainability Rights Ordinance. It reinforces our message that installing a toxic, polluting, plastic product is fundamentally "unsustainable" and a failure of governance.
THE FINAL VICTORY: September 25: Recreation & Parks Commission 🛝
This was the culminating meeting. The Recreation & Parks Commission listened to the recommendations from all the other advisory bodies and the overwhelming public comment, and voted to adopt a motion that serves as a near-moratorium on all new plastic grass fields.
The Commission's motion framework states:
No new artificial turf in City-owned parks will be installed.
Existing grass fields will be maintained as grass fields.
The city's two existing artificial turf fields will only be replaced with new turf if a natural grass field cannot be installed without decreasing capacity.
The City will explore options for sustainable natural alternative materials that meet the City's needs for safety, playability, maintenance, and cost.
What This All Means
This is what a clear mandate looks like. These advisory recommendations, taken together, provide the City Council with an undeniable consensus from its own expert bodies and the community.
Our final task is to ensure the City Council listens to this consensus and votes to turn these advisory recommendations into binding, permanent city policy on November 18th.
✍️ Ready to write your letter to the City Council? Be sure to use our toolkit for key talking points and contact information!