In my experience, the people using the field at Pierce have all been members of some sort of league, not pick-up players. Kickball leagues, soccer teams playing with uniforms (most of the time). And yes, the new grass at Pierce wasn’t in place more than a few months before they let people on it. It died very quickly. Let’s be patient with the Meridian grass and let it root.

That way, we can take our golf clubs up there and practice our short game.

And let’s be practical here — two friends tossing a football/frisbee/softball or kicking around a soccer ball on the green is vastly different than 7-a-side all-afternoon games with cleats in terms of wear & tear on the space. Even when the fences go down, I hope that the latter is not allowed. Steve is spot on by identifying the purpose of this park. It’s clear in the design.

Give it up people, it isn’t water or winter or even dry summers that destroys grass. Grass roots will survive all of those and come back the next year, if it is left completely alone. Fields all around the world in every kind of place from forests to cities are left to the whims of mother nature. And survive.

It isn’t the amount of water that kills the grass. It is the people on it.

Plenty of people play soccer, not just ‘foreign immigrants.’ Nor are all said foreign immigrants of a different race. Nor are the fences solely to prevent soccer. They also prevent frisbee throwing and bocce ball and many other things, enjoyed by people of all races and nationalities.

I do think we could use some more soccer fields in town and less baseball fields. The baseball diamonds in DCPR’s roster seem a bit disproportionate given the overall park space.

But that doesn’t mean that every place with grass has to become a soccer field. Even with all the fences down, Meridian Hill is not large enough, nor landscaped for the sport. It is intended to be a English-style formal garden, which has a useful place in our society.

And I find the claim that soccer players are going to stage some sort of all-night sit-in when the fences come down to be pretty dubious. Even without a police substation, the park is closed at night and patrolled. There will be no all-night games.