Friday, June 6, 2008

New HRM Off leash Strategy Sessions Coming Up

Oh boy, I am fired up now. I've just sent out an email to as many people as I can think of in my contacts list who might be interested because John Charles from Planning at the HRM sent out a new email late this afternoon (Friday afternoon of course) inviting people to new strategy sessions. I'll let my email speak for itself that I sent out:

I got an email from John Charles today saying that meetings are coming up inviting people to take part in their upcoming review of HRM's pilot off leash parks.

He says they are at the end of their twelve month trial period and the Committee are going to submit their final monitoring reports to Council. Based on monitoring results, the Committee may recommend that Council approve, or reject, the designation of a pilot off leash park area as an official off leash park area.

When you go to the website link that he's provided about the different parks that you can take part in the reviews of their monitoring results - neither Seaview Park or Point Pleasant Park are included!

So they are going to be able to close both of those parks without any public input?!?!?!?!

Is this possible? Is this actually going to happen? If this is the case - then this is an outrage. I actually wrote a blog post today about an article Patricia Brooks Arenburg wrote in the Chronicle Herald this week about litter in Nova Scotia - and how it seems that nobody can do anything about the problem - it's because here's no one to blame - except for the fact that "trucker bombs" come from truckers
- Tim Horton's cups come from Tim Horton's (obviously) - maybe we should be shutting down all Tim Horton's until they can deal with the fact that people aren't properly throwing away the cups they receive!!!!

What would be the fallout from this? There would be tyranny!!!!! Well how come we as tax paying dog owners are not speaking out like Tim Horton's customers would be doing if we were faced with the same debacle?

Dog poop in local parks comes from a small minority of irresponsible dog owners - but yet ALL dog owners are going to be affected - because we are going to lose the ability to legally exercise our dogs off-leash. I can't imagine that responsible dog owners will NOT continue to exercise our dogs off leash - we realize how important it is to the quality of life of our dogs - and we are all committed to maintaining that quality of life - but we will now be forced to break the law and become miscreants, skulking around - trying to hide in the bushes, attempting to not get caught treating our canine life companions properly.

If you did not receive the email from John Charles - I have pasted it below. If you want to read Patricia Brooks-Arenburg's articles for comparison - the littering article is at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Search/1059984.html and the dog poop problem article is at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1058614.html

Here is John Charle's email sent out this afternoon (June 6, 2008):

from: HRM Park Dog
to: John Charles
date: Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 4:35 PM
subject: RE: HRM Off Leash Pilot Park Six Month Review Meetings

Hello:

You are invited to take part in our upcoming review of HRM's pilot off leash parks.

In June, 2007 HRM Regional Council adopted the Off Leash Parks Strategy. During October and November, 2007 five pilot off leash parks were opened for a 12 month trial period. The parks (Dartmouth Common, Fort Needham Memorial, Hemlock Ravine, Sandy Lake, and Shubie) feature a variety of areas and times where responsible dog owners can enjoy off leash activities with their pets.

The Interdepartmental Off Leash Strategy Committee is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Strategy. It serves as a decision-making body for the selection, design, and monitoring of, off leash areas in parks . The Strategy requires the Committee to conduct a six month interim review of the pilot off leash parks.

Subsequent to the interim review, the Committee may adapt management practices as required, and will continue monitoring the pilot off leash parks.

At the end of the twelve month trial period the Committee will submit final monitoring reports to Council. Based on monitoring results, the Committee may recommend that Council approve, or reject, the designation of a pilot off leash park area as an official off leash park area.

The meeting schedule is posted on the HRM Off Leash Strategy website at :

http://www.halifax.ca/RealPropertyPlanning/OLPS/index.html

Please register in advance for the discussion(s) of your choice at: parkdog@halifax.ca


*************************
Thanks for any attention you can give to this matter.
Joan Sinden
dogkisser@gmail.com

Other posts relevant to this post:

City Threatening to take away off leash parks

What to do about the poop problem

What's the difference between poop and litter?

New HRM Off Leash Strategy Sessions Coming Up

Further on my off-leash diatribe

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