"Blue Dog Pond" (M.L.K. WY S. and S. Massachusetts St.)

Hi Allen,
I got an email from Vince Slupski telling me that you're upset about
the work at Blue Dog, and I think you deserve an explanation.
A lot of the Genessee users complained directly to Lou Clark, the
director of South Parks, about the wetness of the Blue Dog area. He
directed the landscape architect to come up with a plan to make it
drier.I met with the landscaspe architect to go over his plans and
make some suggestions, and I talked to as many people at the site as i
saw. i put a notice on the Blue Dog bulletin board, but it didn't last
more than a couple of days..
I was surprised as you that the work had started. i was also surprised
at the big mess that was being made. i called and spoke to the project
manager-he said that theb work was supposed to happen in phases, and
they weren't supposed to tear up the basin. as far as i was concerned,
i simply wanted them to move the fence a little because it appeared as
though the upper grass path was outside the off leash area, but
evidently a lot of users(mostly i think genessee folks) called Parks
and complained about the wetness and puddles. THIS WAS NOT MY PLAN!
The project manager admits their screw up and are going to put down
some wood chips as soon as possible to make the area usable and maybe
replant grass in the spring.i was pretty happy with the way things
were, but i heard from a lot of users that they wanted a drier area,
and when i met with the landscape architect i felt that by agreeing to
what he was prposing(which is not what they're doing) i was
representing what a whole bunch of people had expressed to me, but it
wasn't my personal choice. so, whatever parks may have told you, this
idea did NOT come from me, and that the head of the South division had
heard enough from users that work needed to be done soon. it would
have been real nice to know exactly when they were going to start, and
i would have notified people.
By the way, it's not asphalt, it's crushed rock.
So, I'm sorry it's all screwed up right now, and maybe i shouldn't
have trusted the parks dept to do what they'd agreed to, and maybe i
should have reposted what i'd had on the bulletin board, but i wasn't
the driving force behind this, and hopefully it won't be real screwed
up for very long.
sorry, again. I've been using the site a few times a week for the last
couple of years, and this is a real pain in the butt for me too.
Diane

 

Thanks for getting back to me Diane. Has there been any
movement/proposal/suggestion for an alternative site until Blue Dog and
Genessee are back into usable status? I for one, am dissappointed that
dislocated Genessee area users were able to do this without more input
from others...I have used Blue Dog all last winter and spring...there
were always a few puddles that stayed constant as long as it rained. It
was not getting used that much...so was not as muddy as it has become
recently. The only time that it has really been full of water is when
we had that unseasonal deluge this July when the southern 1/3 was completely
under water and it was draining off under the concete drainage are like it
is supposed to. I never noticed the dogs caring that it was wet or that
there were puddles. Some people that didn't want to deal with the damp
and water...simply played with their dogs up on the hillside and did not
use the basin. I question the priorities of some people. At any rate...
it is done.
thanks
allen

Note:  COLA does not endorse the opinions of these letters. The author thought it would be appropriate to share this information because of the large amount of e-mail I have received regarding this situation.