On Sunday District 2 Chatham County Commissioner, James J. Holmes stopped by after church to see how everything has been going at the Beasley Dog Park. I had the pleasure of chatting with him about the pros and cons of our wonderful park. He mentioned he would soon ask the County to do an assessment on the park.
Mr. Holmes has shown an interest in the park since day one. I believe he was instrumental in getting the second waste station with bags installed on the South side of the park. On Sunday he voiced concerns about the dead grass, missing plants and overall wear and tear of the dog park.
As many of you know the park has been open nearly a year and is the only publicly owned dog park in Chatham County. Although it was funded by the county, Park and Tree Officials have requested dog owners maintain and police its use.
In our short conversation, I mentioned to Mr. Holmes the deteriorating condition of the fence, lack of mowing from the Nelson Group (contracted by the County to maintain MMB Park) and the problems with standing water at the front gate and around the faucet. He promised to look into it and address urgent issues such as the fence immediately. I also asked that someone provide a pile of dirt to back fill the holes left by neglectful dog owners.
BEASLEY DP BLOGGERS: Please either post your concerns and comments or email me directly at sbmorton@gmail.com. Keep in mind that WE are responsible for most of the mess at the park and WE should take measures to clean up after our pets and keep an eye on our dogs at all times.
Respectfully, Stephen Morton
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3 comments:
About the poo, I think that for the most part most Beasley Park dog owners pick up after their dogs. Of course there are a few that don't but there are also times when the park is really busy and a dog can leave a mess without its owners noticing. Sometimes someone will point out that your dog made a mess, sometimes not. I know nobody likes the task of picking up poo, but I think if we had a tool like a pooper scooper at the park, we would be more apt to clean up more poo regardless of whose dog left it? I wouldn't mind doing the occasional walk-through with a scooper while my dog plays.
As for the dirt, all it does it get muddy when it's wet and dusty when it's dry and I don't know of any type of grass that can put up with the amount of wear. A small paved (or even pebbled) area around the faucet will help greatly with the mud problem. Maybe if we can acquire some donated or salvage materials we can find some volunteers to help install it.
For the rest of the park, the most successful and economical solution for the ground cover (that I've seen) is wood chips, which will need to be re-filled periodically.
Obviously this stuff requires time effort and money but if we can reduce the amount of money creatively we could find people to help out.
Other ideas I have (maybe delusions of grandeur is a better description...) include using a few large rocks for the dogs to pee on to give the poor bushes a chance to live and to landscape with. Also having a small bulletin post would be nice to have for posting lost&found ads, friendly reminders, etc.
I don't have any money to donate but I have plenty of time and I am there practically daily anyways. I certainly wouldn't mind helping out. And I also have the authority to volunteer my fiance's time on the weekends!
I agree with the wood chips/mulch idea.
The county has an ample supply of FREE mulch... It's in big piles on Montgomery crossroad near the Truman. It's not the most uniform in composition, but it would be better than dust/mud. I think we should lobby the county to dump some of that mulch in the park. It would only cost the transport and some shoveling it around.
Could we organize a clean-up day and have specific projects organized? Maybe a Saturday? If it was planned in advance and we had a sign up for supplies and volunteers, we could probably get a lot done. An initial list could include the following:
1. Start with a overall scouring for poop.
2. Rake up the bits of old toys, trash and cigarette butts in the corners and grass.
3. Fill in holes with dirt.
4. Place pea gravel around water spicket.
5. Rake new pine straw on edges.
We could ask for volunteers who are willing to either donate materials or organize to get them otherwise and then just a workforce. Either that or some people might be willing to put some cash into a kitty to go towards supplies. Like I couldn't afford to spring for all the pea gravel, but if 10 of us all contributed a little bit of money, I'm sure we could afford it.
Oh and what about including a doggie toy drive that day? And I really like that idea of adding in some large rocks for peeing to give the shrubs a break.
I'm more than happy to help organize something if we go that direction.
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