Lincoln Park's annual time out is a waste of time

Every year, the park service puts the field in Lincoln Park behind a fence so the grass can grow in advance of the Mary McCloed Bethune celebration (she’s the statue in the foreground).

The problem with this is that the grass is actually weeds, which promptly die under the heavy foot traffic and hot summer sun. Leaving the same barren clay field that needs to be fenced off again so the foolish cycle continues.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the park service would talk to maintainers of other high trafficed grassy places like sporting fields, golf courses and university quads. Then they’d know that they need to till the compacted clay with some gypsum to lighten it so a tougher hybrid grass mix can take root.

Then they can fence it once and it would grow in smartly. With regular aeration, it would last and be a pleasant space to play that never needed a time out again.