Thanks to Stephanie, Janet, Pam, Doug, & Katie from Soggy Paws for their help with the cleanup of Coliseum Park Dog Run on Saturday May 8th.

We made a couple of improvements to the gravel containment, both on a trial basis.  Window screening was installed along the fence at the north end of the park:

Screening is about 2' high along the fence, and flashed under the gravel.

And, plastic fencing grid was installed along the fence at the south end of the park.

The mesh is about 2' high. The little 'blip's are cable ties.

We’ll keep an eye on these installations to see whether they hold up over time and weather, and whether they do the job they’re supposed to do – keep the gravel from those areas inside the park.  Longer term, we’re thinking of wrapping the whole park in one or the other barrier to keep gravel in and to keep trash out.  If you have a better idea, please let us know.

We tried to power wash the surface, as well.  Unfortunately, your power-washers didn’t really know what they were doing, so the job is incomplete.  Overall the place is much cleaner, but next time, we’ll do it right.  (We’ll be using the power washer during the Grant Bark Park cleanup next Sunday May 16th, and will probably do a much better job!)

We also moved the storage shed and sand bin into the enclosed area at the south end of the park.  We purchased a 75 foot hose, which, thanks to the CPD plumbing department’s installation of a faucet off the water fountain, should prove to be quite useful in the future.  We’ll be installing a configurable combination lock on the shed to keep our materials safe.  You’re welcome to guess what the combination will be.

Thanks Pam!

• Powerwashing takes a long time.  If we are going to do this properly, it will probably require volunteers to work different parts of the park on different days.
• Because the drainage in the dog run is incredibly poorly constructed, there’s no way to escape having pools of dirty water around each of the drains at the end of the day. That means that there’s a need for a ’second shift’ to cleanup that mess after it dries up.
• It is impossible to power wash the gravel in the patches at Coliseum Park dog run.  It is unconfined and will just go flying.
• There is no point simply replacing the gravel in the patches;  if the SLDogPAC is going to pay for additional gravel replacement, we will have to require that there be some means to constrain the gravel in those patches, as has been discussed elsewhere in this blog.
• We wonder if the poo bag dispenser is fostering a ‘poo bag dependency’.  When the bag dispenser was out for a few days last week, an abnormally large number of orphan poos were left behind at the park.  This may be a phenomenon worth discussing in the future. Share your bags? Call or tweet? You know what to do.
• There sure are a lot of cigarette butts left behind in the gravel… a dog & a smoke?

© 2010, South Loop Dog Park Action Cooperative. All rights reserved.

We’re planning a Spring Cleanup at Coliseum Park for this Saturday May 8th, at 8 AM.

Here’s the proposed task list:

a)    General

1. Pick up poo
2. Restock bag dispenser
3. General sweeping & trash
4. Trash in EL support ‘pockets’
5. Rake pea gravel
6. Gravel shoveling back to gravel areas
7. Powerwash hard surfaces
8. Powerwash gravel
9. Install fencing fabric
10. Block off area around drain
11. Resurface area around north drain
12. Fencing spot repairs (e.g. where torn, use wire)
13. Remove nanny sign (‘Pick Up’)
14. Rust remover or steel wool on water fountain
15. Remove the ‘DogPAC’ banner
16. Remove old GotAMinutes and replace with new GotAMinutes
17. Cleanup area outside but bordering the DFA fence
18. Spray clean benches

b)    Possible

1. Paint water fountain.
2. Cut the chain lock on the ‘Shed’
3. Move the ‘Shed’ into the Sequestered area and re-lock
4. Repair the fence support cup on the South end

c)    Planning & Discussion

1. Plan installation of concrete/stone shelf at south end gravel area
2. Discuss resurfacing the gravel triangles by the water fountain
3. Plan device to prevent small dog escape at the gate-gaps

A couple of issues:

• We will be supplying a powerwasher, but I don’t think any of us knows how to use it yet.  Hijinks ensue.
• We want to install fencing ‘fabric’ to prevent gravel drift out of the dog run.  But don’t really know what to purchase yet.
• None of us knows anything concrete about asphalt surface repair.  We’ll talk to the guys and gals at the big box store.

So… if you think you could help in planning what we need to do on Saturday, yes, we need your help, and welcome it.

Comments, call, tweet, or email!

© 2010, South Loop Dog Park Action Cooperative. All rights reserved.

How about changing from this:

to this:    

The former is the way the worthless little gravel areas in the Coliseum Park DFA are currently ‘designed’. Features include:

• Gravel is at or above grade level
• Gravel spills out all over the place (and out of the park)
• Odd little triangles throughout the ‘DFA’

The latter is they way the dog relief areas at the Burnham Station Condominiums were built. Features include:

• Space is defined by landscape timbers.
• Space was excavated to put the gravel below grade level.
• No spillage at all.

However, the cost for four (4) of these spaces at Burnham Station was about $3600, total.  That’s a lot of money.

If we focused on one or two  areas in the Coliseum Park DFA – say, the north and south ends of the run – and did away with the rest, maybe this would be feasible? The gravel areas would still require cleaning and gravel replacement every year or two, but there wouldn’t be gravel spilling out all over the place onto the walkways and onto the street.  And the DFA would look one increment less of a dump.  It may be worth a shot, but at this point who knows whether the user community would support the cost.  (Hint:  the CPD is not going to do this – we asked)??

© 2009, South Loop Dog Park Action Cooperative. All rights reserved.

Coliseum Park DFA is a mess, and there is poo everywhere.  Today we put up a Dog Waste Bag Dispenser at Coliseum Park – it’s orange, and you can’t miss it.   No more excuses, please.

The DogPAC has committed to keeping the DFA dog waste bag dispenser full of poo bags.  If you forget yours, please feel free to take one.

And, feel free to point it out to others who might ‘need a bag‘!

If it’s empty, please call us, email, or tweet @sldogpac - one of us will come out to fill it. (No, I’m not going to monitor it every day.)

© 2009, South Loop Dog Park Action Cooperative. All rights reserved.

This is a brief update about issues at Coliseum Park after discussion with Janis Taylor of the Chicago Park District 9.8.09.

1.  The east side gate.

The issues raised here were:

1. the need to fix the gap that currently allows small dogs to escape the dog run (note the brick in the picture!)
2. the possibility of installing a double gated entry here to make the park secure.

Janis reports that CPD personnel have taken a look at the gate.

They are most likely going to close off the gate, because it opens onto the children’s playground (which is contrary to current ‘DFA’ policy).

This will leave the park with one double-gated entry at the north end.

2. The depressions around the drains.

The issue raised here was that these retain dirty water and allow bacteria and parasites to collect and possibly spread disease.  This issue was initially reported to CPD over two years ago.

Janis reports that CPD personnel think that they “are not that low”.

When pressed, she agreed that CPD policy was not to allow pools of contaminated water at DFAs (as occurs around the drains and at other points in the dog run).  Janis said that she would  look into this again.

3.  The water fountain.

The issue raised here is that the water fountain is rusted and decaying, and that there is no doggie water fountain.

Janis suggests that maybe if they can find one lying around, maybe a concrete fountain, they might install it. We have heard that at other Chicago DFA’s ‘replacement’ of a water fountain consisted of installing another used fountain in place of the existing one. This will probably not make anyone happy.

The alternative is for the DogPAC and the user community to purchase a fountain.  CPD will  not cost share on this.  CPD plumbers will have to install it.  A weather resistant outdoor fountain costs on the order of $3000.

© 2009, South Loop Dog Park Action Cooperative. All rights reserved.