South Loop Dog Park Action Cooperative

Interesting news in Alderman Pat Dowell’s December 3 2010 Ward Newsletter – an effort is underway to locate a dog park in the nearby Bronzeville neighborhood!

Possible New Bronzeville Dog Park

 

Bronzeville resident Ephraim Lee has been working with Alderman Pat Dowell and her Chief of Staff, Audrey Wade to create a dog park for Bronzeville. Below is the text of a letter he sent to the Third Ward office and asked to be shared with Third Ward residents. Please let Ephraim and the Third Ward Office know what you think.

Greetings to all residents of Bronzeville; my name is Ephraim Lee and I am writing this letter to announce some exciting news. As a dog owner I have found it difficult to find open and inviting places within our community that allows our dogs the freedom of running, playing, and socializing with one another, and I know that I am not alone in this dilemma. Well, after speaking with Alderwoman Patricia Dowell and her wonderful assistant Audrey Wade, we have decided that what is missing in this community is a public dog park/run.

It is well known that dog owners everywhere love and cherish their pets, and that is no less so here in Bronzeville. A dog park would give our four-legged companions-and us-places to meet and mingle, sniff, and stretch their legs. Information could be shared about the numerous changes in our pet’s healthcare, or where to locate a very responsible veterinarian. Of course as a community we would be primarily responsible for its upkeep and maintenance, but this should not present a problem in the least.

But in order to make this dream a reality, we need everyone’s help in the search for the perfect lot on which to build. Please note that the lot in question has to be of manageable size, and as centrally located as possible. All entries will be accepted and after careful review the winning lot will be selected, graveled, and fenced in, for our pet’s enjoyment. Smells will be kept at a minimum through everyone picking up after their furry friend, and a plastic baggie container will be placed on site for collections. One other thing that bears noting is the fact that many vacant lots are privately owned, and if this is the case that said lot might not be picked for the site. I will make sure that all updates on this search are placed in the monthly newsletter, issued each month by the alderwoman’s office, or if you prefer, you can be contacted via e-mail.

So for all suggestions and picks, please e-mail them to: xhle@hotmail.com, or contact me by phone at: (773)556-6665. I look forward to everyone pitching in and helping me give those four legged friends who love us, a place to love!

We applaud Mr Lee’s efforts to create a new dog park for Bronzeville!

So, it has been about eleven months since the South Loop Dog PAC started supplying dog poo bags at the two South Loop dog parks, and we can now estimate the total number of bags that we’re going to have to supply each year.

How many bags? Twenty two thousand.

(Yes, that’s 22,000.)

That is a lot of bags.

22000 bags/year is about 1800 bags/month, or about 61 bags each day.

That’s 61 poos picked up each day*.

That’s 22000 poos picked up each year, with your support.

This is a good thing.

How much did it cost us?  Well, each bag costs $0.032, plus the volunteer time donated to refill the dispensers.

The two dispensers cost about $100, and we can amortize that over a few years…

So 61 bags/day is about $1.92.  Or, 61 poos picked up for less than two dollars a day.

That is money well spent.

—

*What is the ‘bag efficiency’?   How many bags are stolen?  Wasted?  We don’t know yet. We do try to track usage, but don’t have complete information.  A few people are coordinating this effort, and we don’t have time to do everything!

Yes, it would help if an army of volunteers were willing to step forward! Please do!

You all should check out the new website for MonDog, the organization that maintains the Montrose Dog Beach.

There’s a lot of good info on the site (we’ve already linked to their nice explication of the DFA rules).  Give them some support!

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!

Some lessons learned:

• 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?

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!

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.)