A month or so before election day it was dropped on citizens that there would be a dog park installed at the corner of Washburn and Beechwood, caddy-corner from Lamby Lane park. The mayor and others presided over an announcement at the location, complete with Whitehall’s police K-9 unit. While the neighbors were alerted to the event itself, its my understanding that they weren’t polled on their feelings about having this park right by their homes. Some may have welcomed it but there were others who were livid with the city for not having informed/sought their opinions on the matter. We’re talking about quality of life and property values here.

The very evening of the dog park kickoff, Mayor Maggard spoke of it at the council meeting where Councilman Bob Bailey refuted the Mayor’s assertion that everyone had been apprised of it in the last two years.

The next week, in the council committee meeting, there was general discussion about the issue and Councilman Bailey made some excellent arguments.

Now, we are sent a postcard (paid for with citizen’s tax dollars) telling us there is a ‘planning kickoff’ meeting at City Hall on Dec. 5th from 6:30-7:30. It is clear that this is for planning and not for addressing why this wasn’t thoroughly vetted with the public before its location was written in stone. It seems they don’t care what the location’s impact is on the neighborhood or if the residents even want it but rather only that you hop aboard the mayor’s visions and merely help plan what they’ve placed already. (With the exception of Councilman Bailey who lives only a block from the park, no other official lives anywhere near the proposed site.) In other words, they don’t care what your feelings are on what plans they’re putting together, they just wanna get your input in what to do with it after its location is a done deal. Don’t allow their disrespect of you. Go this Wednesday and tell them how you feel (They HATE that. They only want feel-good sound bites and positive support for their projects in front of others. Looking good in the public eye is paramount to them).
It is audacious for them to put in a dog park in the middle of a residential neighborhood with dogs, big and small, running and barking all day long, 365 days a year. Where is their sense in this (again, 99.99% of them live no where near it)? There is actually code on the books where an animal may not make noise over 15 minutes. What if they’re different dogs making the noise for less than 15 minutes but those ‘less-than-15-minute’ stretches play out the whole day long? I am pro-dog park , for the record, but if its not done with proper and complete consideration, its disrespectful to the citizens who are paying for it, short-sighted and has the possibility of being a complete nightmare to the residents around it in a 5 block radius. Has any of this been considered by YOUR elected officials?