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On the same day New York City Mayor Bloomberg presented keys to city to the pilots and crew of the US Air flight that recently landed in the Hudson River, the city council met to discuss throwing out the keys to all 89 artificial turf fields in the city that were installed with “crumb rubber,” that pellet-like ingredient that is added to the fake grass, giving it that dirt-like feel…

and filling your socks, shoes, shorts, and just about every crease and crack on your body.

Thomas Jefferson Park in Harlem is the local spark to this national issue, which has been making the rounds in recent months. The park was the only field where lead levels were found to be higher than the 400 parts per million safe limit. It was immediately closed and is being resurfaced.

(The other issue mentioned at the meeting dealt with the black rubber mats at some playgrounds reaching excessive temperatures–one toddle was badly burned last summer after running on the surface barefoot.)

The leading council wants the remaining 88 fields closed and resurfaced within a year, which opponents say, beyond being unnecessary, is also unrealistic in terms of the available resources and what it would do to the schedules of youth and adult leagues that use the fields.

A mostly Hispanic group of about a 20 people from the outer buroughs protested the proposed legislation amendments outside city hall in lower Manhattan before heading in to the chambers with some 300 members of the government, public and press. The multi-hour meeting could easily be summed up in a short, written brief, and could have been replaced by a few e-mails sharing information. But a public hearing is necessary in democracy and the politicians made use of it.

Nothing was decided today in what was meant to be just an informational session. The leading politicians exposed little more than their lack of knowledge on the science behind the issue, while the Parks Department stated their case: while crumb rubber is no longer being used for new fields, older fields that do use it have been shown to pose no significant danger by various scientific studies.

The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta recommends limited play on the surface for children under the age of six, but states that it does not pose a significant health risk to anyone.

TIAS will keep you updated as this story develops. You can also follow along on the TIAS Twitter feed.