Sounds simple enough, but, this is Euclid, so it has turned into an almost 20 year project.
Here is the tale:
In the early 1990's then Councilman Ed Gudenas and, Councilwoman Fay Miller had several community meetings where the residents of the City expressed a desire for a community dog park. Nothing came of it as the research needed to move forward was never done.
Then, in 2002, the Dog Park idea was brought to City Council again, this time by Councilmen
McTighe and Gruber. A formal resolution passed by City Council on Nov 4, 2002 encouraged the Administration to develop such a park. In the followup news story in the Euclid Sun Journal (1/23/03), a resident from Upper Valley Drive that frequently visited the Eastlake Dog Park, stated, "Its not only socializing for the dogs, but it's socializing for the owners. Its the best thing in the world for the owners and their pets." The City Recreation Department did begin preliminary planning, and, Council members McTighe, Gruber and Miller did pledge to form a citizens planning committee. Again, nothing came of it.
Skip ahead to 2008. Several residents had asked me about building a dog park. While not wanting to step on Councilman's Gruber's project, I thought I would see if we could get this project finally done. At about the same time, our Recreation Department said that a set of tennis courts at Memorial Park would be torn down. I thought to myself, "lets convert the tennis courts into a dog park." Its something Cleveland did at Clark Fields in Tremont with great success. The Memorial Park idea offers the benefit of central location, and low cost (as the fencing for the tennis courts is perfect for a dog park.) Sounds simple, right? But, this is Euclid!
I proposed the idea to Kathy Will, Recreation Director. She then relayed the idea to Mayor Cervenik. In the mean time, I started a petition drive to gather signature to see how much support was out there. We gathered in about 200 signatures in about 3 weeks.
Now, 2008 turns into 2009. Its decided instead of moving ahead with the tennis court idea, that
a public committee be formed to explore the idea. The Recreation Department coordinates the
search for citizens to join the committee.
The Dog Park Committee is established. AnneMarie Finch of the Recreation Department is designated as the Administration's Representative.
Dog Park Committee History: Between 2009 and 2010, the Dog Park committee visits dog parks in South Euclid and Eastlake, holds numerous meetings on pros and cons for the park,
rules of such a park, City liability and, location. The Committee (of which I was a Council Representative) looked at several locations, including Hillandale Park, Hero Park, the police mini station area, Sportsman Park (on St. Clair) Sims Park and Memorial Park. The committee also had several discussions on raising money for the park, including forming a non profit organization for fundraising and care of the park. In fact, the Sun Journal Article of 2/19/2009 on the Dog Park, states that the City was seeking donations to build the park. Final recommendation of the Dog Park Committee was Memorial Park, at the site of the former putt-putt course. This would provide easy access for the dog owners, and, keep the dogs away from other park users.
But, hold on: City Council decides that it would be best for Memorial Park if a Master Planning Committee was formed to look at the entire park. Some of the goals of this committee included:
increasing usage of the park, create better signage and landscaping and, improve and add new facilities for the park. The Park Committee meets for the first time in Novemember of 2009.
The City Council is to vote on the final Master plan Monday, May 16,2011. The plan is a good one and, the committee should be congratulated on their work. The only question, of course, is,
how to fund this plan, but, that is for another post.
As for the Dog Park? It is not included in this final Master Plan document. No real reason was
given, only that "it did not fit" into "their" plan. So, after years of talk, resolutions, committees and ideas, we are at virtually the same sport as we were 20 years ago.
What lessons can we draw from this tale?
First, we should not value the input of one citizen group over another. The work of the Dog Park committee should have been incorporated into the Master Plan. At the very least, an alternative
location should have been presented. Instead, that work was thrown away.
Second, this is another example of Euclid being unable to move forward on any sort of project:
or almost 20 years, the citizens of Euclid have asked for a Dog Park with nothing to show for it.
This is similar to far more "important" issues like the Lakefront, or Shore, Euclid Ave, or new jail, etc: a failure to act and make decisions.
What a sad Euclid tale, indeed!
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