City Council Needs A Wake Up Call

City Council and Councilwoman Regalia need to wake up! Dismissing our group back to the PROS Commission is not going to work this time. We have tried for years to work with the PROS Commission with no satisfaction. It is time for this issue to be finally dealt with by our City Council.

Here is a copy of an article that ran in the Contra Costa Times:

Advocacy group feels dogged by city leaders
By Theresa Harrington
STAFF WRITER

After lobbying more than 10 years for a permanent dog park in Walnut Creek, members of the advocacy group WC DOG are unhappy that city leaders have not designated a site to meet their needs.

Frustrated with stop-gap measures, the group has formally rejected the city's plans to build a small dog area in the Shadelands Business Park and to have dogs share space with equestrians at Heather Farm Park.

In a letter to the City Council and Parks, Recreation and Open Space Commission, the group has asked the city not to spend money on these short-term improvements, which the commission endorsed in February after several meetings.

Instead, the group has collected 400 signatures on petitions asking for a permanent dog park."We the Walnut Creek Dog Owners Group will no longer be muffled by 'future considerations' and Band-Aid solutions," wrote Sandra Nakamura-Bush, the group's president, in the May 12 letter.

Dog owners are "dismayed, disappointed and disillusioned" by the city's response to their previous pleas, because the 1-acre Shadelands site on Mitchell Drive near the Park and Ride lot is too small and the dirt Walnut Creek equestrian area is too dusty, Nakamura-Bush said.The sudden rejection of dog facilities by the group comes as a surprise to city officials, who thought the commission had come up with a plan three months ago that was agreeable to everyone.At that time, the commission agreed to maintain off-leash areas in open space in the city, retain morning off-leash hours at San Miguel Park, create the new off-leash area on Mitchell Drive, facilitate the shared use of the equestrian center and continue to evaluate off-leash dog needs and use."The last I heard, everybody was in agreement," Councilwoman Gwen Regalia said Tuesday. "We asked the PROS commission to deal with it, they have dealt with it, there was a sign-off. I would imagine if there's some concern, it would go certainly to the PROS commission and we may never see it."

The commission made its decision about dog park alternatives after establishing a task force that included two WC DOG members, said Commissioner Tracy Murray, who was the task force chairwoman.

"I'm disappointed that WC DOG is not satisfied with the proposal," she said. "The task force worked really hard toincorporate the viewpoints of not only WC DOG, but other people in the community, and there were ample opportunities to present alternative viewpoints."

Dog owners at the San Miguel Park on Monday said they would love to be able to use that site in the afternoons as well as in the mornings, but neighbors have objected to their presence.

They would also like to turn the former ball field in Civic Park into a dog park, after the East Bay Municipal Utility District finishes work on a water pipeline there.

City leaders have tentatively said they would like to plant grass in that area, which is now dirt, and make it into a "passive" park next to an enhanced creek walk, after three portable Civic Arts Education classrooms are removed.

WC DOG members are also holding out hope for space in Heather Farm Park, even though the City Council has adopted a master plan that does not include a dog park there.

Nakamura-Bush said she would be willing to look for sponsors to help construct a permanent dog park, if the city can find a large enough location. Group members don't like the idea of the small park in the Shadelands, which is not big enough for large dogs, she said.

With more than 13,000 dog owners in Walnut Creek, WC DOG members say the city should be willing to accommodate them."I'm really upset that they are putting a skate park at Heather Farm Park," said Walnut Creek resident Sian Oblack, who often takes her pet to dog parks in other cities. "Everyone else seems to be taken care of. Why can't we have a park?"