After being closed for almost two months, a dog park in Mt. Washington will be reopened this Saturday June 7, despite the controversy still surrounding it.
The park was closed April 16 for maintenance and was originally set to reopen May 9. However, at a public meeting where residents met with city officials to discuss issues with the park, several residents called for the park to be relocated, citing noise complaints and safety issues. As a result, the reopening of the park was postponed until a compromise could be reached.
“From what I have been told, all parties have been addressed and the park is to be reopened on Saturday June 7 while a dialogue continues as to the best possible solution,” says Adam Paul Cosgrove, president of Paws for Olympia Park.
Neighborhood tensions around the dog park, located in Olympia Park and built with a $60,000 grant, are nothing new. It’s met resistance from a segment of the community since it opened two years ago and some say its caused a rift in the neighborhood that’s only getting worse.
“We’ve been trying to work with the city for two years now,” says Patricia Ward who lives across from the dog park and would like to see it relocated. “We would like to compromise. It has really divided our community. There are a lot of neighbors who are not speaking.”
Ward says Olympia is being used less by children and families who are afraid of being attacked by dogs who jump the fence. She says it’s also been especially troublesome for those who live near it and has recommended moving the park to a level area behind Olympia, close to the woods.
“We’re all dog lovers,” says Ward who owns two dogs. “We know the city needs dog parks. The problem is it’s so close to our homes. There is dog waste that isn’t being picked up. The noise is unbearable at points. There’s no other dog park in the city that’s in a residential neighborhood.”
As a result of the controversy, the dog park was never fully completed beyond constructing a fence to surround it. Cosgrove and other members of the Paws group are hopeful the park will be completed with added amenities. And part of these amenities will address some of the concerns of the park’s opponents.
“We want to add circular benches..to provide seating, especially for our senior members. Right now there is a group of about 5-6 seniors who meet every morning with their dogs and have to bring their own portable camping chairs,” says Cosgrove. “We’d also like to put more appropriate waste containers and construct the waste bag dispenser that the animal rescue leagued donated to us in 2012…We just want the park to look as good as possible.”
This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2014.
Mayor Peduto inherited this problem. The “$60,000 grant” was actually public money from the City’s capital budget. The public is excluded from use of the entire front lawn of Olympia Park by a chain link fence which forms a corral for sole use as a dog park. Petitions were submitted to Mayor Peduto with 390+ signatures in opposition to the dog park in the present location. Another 200+ households expressed opposition through their organization’s Board. Neighbors, including many dog owners, bordering the Park were NOT notified or included in the planning of the “dog park” while hundreds of others remote from the park were notified. No legislation adopted this use for this area and no planning reviews or approvals were sought/received.
The cranky old lady that lives across the street from Olympia Park does not like anything that goes on in the park (YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!). She went to the senior center on Virginia Ave and had everyone sign her petition.
A few months back my nephew was playing in a fall little league baseball tournament at Olympia Park and the game went a little late into extra innings. She called the police for a noise violation. The game was over and everyone was leaving as police arrived, the officer mentioned they get a lot of calls from someone about the park noise and they have to investigate.
There is not enough room for a dog park “in a level area behind Olympia, close to the woods” that would actually be in the baseball outfield. This level area is used by the Pittsburgh Public Schools for various activities other then baseball & softball.
I do have to say the $60k for some fence was not well spent. The beautiful old community building in the park needs a lot of work and I would have rather seen it used on building repairs.
Mayor Peduto inherited this problem. – You assume a dog park is a problem, not a benefit to a neighborhood and a community.
The “$60,000 grant” was actually public money from the City’s capital budget. -Per the budget of that year the grant’s source was never indicated, so you are assuming it is public money. Grants can come from many sources. Only ~$30k was spent on the fence. This amount is so much because the neighbors along the park stopped work and then Allegheny fence had to come back out to finish the work, causing the cost to rise. To touch on another topic, it will take more than $500K to fix the community center, and that is a separate issue.
The public is excluded from use of the entire front lawn of Olympia Park by a chain link fence which forms a corral for sole use as a dog park. –The dog park takes up ~38k square feet. The remainder of the “lawn” of the park is ~39K square feet.
Petitions were submitted to Mayor Peduto with 390+ signatures in opposition to the dog park in the present location. Another 200+ households expressed opposition through their organization’s Board. –The petitions presented to residents did not show the truths and the adults and children who signed it were lead to believe things that were not true about the park. This petition was not also presented to all residents. I would be curious to know of the households that support the park.
Neighbors, including many dog owners, bordering the Park were NOT notified or included in the planning of the “dog park” while hundreds of others remote from the park were notified. –The city had sent out notices of the meetings, some of which residents along the park attended. The latest meeting had no noticed sent to residents and relied purely on word of mouth and media.
No legislation adopted this use for this area and no planning reviews or approvals were sought/received. –It has been stated numerous times that legislation or planning review is required for changes made to parks. The art commission was made aware and gave approval via word of mouth. The city architect for the parks also provided the drawings and approval for the park.
Please don’t believe everything you read or hear and always check all sources before posting.
If you don’t like the noise living next to a City Park then move! Olympia certainly is a community park but it does not belong to a handful of cranky old people that live next to it.
Go buy a home next to an airport and then complain to the FAA about low flying airplanes and see how that works out.
To TPopek: The residents were here before the “bark park” was created. If you and the other dog owners don’t have room on your own property for your dog to exercise, no one is forcing you to own a dog!