I am responding to the letter titled "Why live next to a playfield?" (Oct. 17). I would say "Why put a sports complex next to the houses?"

Loyal Heights Playfield used to be a nice grassy field, with softball, baseball, and football being played eight or nine months of the year. The field would rest and recover the other three or four months a year, giving the neighborhood some much needed down time as well. The traffic congestion was bad at times, but not every night. In between baseball and football seasons there were breaks. The athletes and the neighborhood co-existed relatively peacefully, in spite of the noise of the games and practice, because of those breaks.

The (adult) soccer players of Seattle were not satisfied though. When they see a grass playfield with lights, they do not rest until it is replaced with artificial turf. Read their web sites. They have a paid lobbyist to work on this goal. All they want is more fields. It's all they care about - not preserving the neighborhoods, not cooperating together, not compromising.

Every Seattle city park is not an appropriate place for a sports complex with activity every night. Yet somehow the powerful soccer lobby has convinced Seattle city officials otherwise. The Pro Parks Levy funds could have been spent to upgrade the existing grass field at Loyal Heights, instead of taking out the grass all together and putting in artificial turf (which does stink on warm days). But the soccer lobby would not allow that. They mounted a huge letter writing campaign to the City Council, and they won. Children do not play late at night under lights, adults do. It's the adult soccer players, some of whom are in two or three different leagues, who benefit.

That neighborhood is not the right place for such a busy complex. There is no parking lot, no public transportation, and no arterial streets bordering the park. Everyone has to drive to the park, adding to the congestion and noise. Neighborhood character and peace are commodities Seattleites value, and they make the city more livable. The outskirts of the city, or large parks on busy streets with parking lots are appropriate places for sports complexes, not the small neighborhood parks.

The main reason Loyal Heights Playfield was changed is for soccer. Should soccer playing take precedence over all other activities in Seattle's neighborhoods? Should adult soccer players be guaranteed the right to play on city fields as many nights a week as they wish? Should they be allowed to continue to take more and more city parks away from more passive users? Parks exist for more purposes than organized sports.

Lily Thompson

Seattle