This flooding situation has been a problem in Washington Square’s large dog run for awhile now and I gather that the Parks Department figured, at this point, they would wait for the new dog run to open – the new 24 hour dog run (that apparently nobody asked for) in a new location (which pretty much nobody wanted) – versus correcting whatever the problem is. These photos above are from Saturday (5-11) after two days of rain.
There is light at the end of the tunnel…?
The brand new dog run will be in a new spot, relocated along Washington Square South, and is expected to open at the end of May, per the Parks Department.
Some history
In October 2011, one of the board members for the large dog run, Jena Tarleton, posted this comment below. It is worth reposting since the new dog run will be open soon and this explains some of the history and problems from the past and potentially in the future:
…the truth is that the drainage for our current dog run was never installed properly, so it floods in every rain. Of course all of this is old news by now. But if you want some fresher news, here’s a scoop: Parks’ line about making the new dog run 24 hours because we wanted it is completely untrue. Even worse is their claim that they have to have the entrance into the run be on the outer perimeter of the park in order to meet “our” demands for a 24 hour dog run. This is painfully ironic to us because we’ve never asked for a 24 hour dog run (we have enough problems finding needles in the run every morning without it being open 24 hours), and we fought to the bitter end not to have *any* entrance into the run from the parks’ perimeter, because every now and then a dog darts through someone’s legs as they enter or exit and gets out. Right now it isn’t much of a problem, because they end up in the middle of the park where they can be grabbed easily. But if there is an entrance directly onto the street, we are certain to have a number of dog fatalities. The truth is that Parks doesn’t want the big dogs inside WSP, and they think that if they make the entrance to the dog run on the outer perimeter of the park, it will cut down the number of dogs coming into the park.
Why was the Parks Department so insistent on having a 24 hour dog run and an entrance from the street? Was it to limit the number of dogs? Was this re-designer George Vellonakis’s idea or did it come from higher up?
(A bit behind, but Phase III construction update is coming…)
Photos: Cathryn
I would imagine that the reason the new entrance to the dog run will be outside the park is to keep off-leash dogs out of the park. Many people unleash their dogs on their way to the dog run uptown where I live. I assume the same situation exists downtown.
The Parks Department is so deceitful that it is never really possible to determine why they do what they do. We, too, got a brand new relocated dog run that no one asked for. I am pretty sure it all has to do with contracts and kick backs. The secret-under-the-ground technology of these new runs makes them perfect for this kind of stuff.
Hi Monica!
I don’t see too many people doing that (keeping their dog off leash on way to dog run) but when there are problems in the dog run (a la flooding), people bring them into other areas of the park off leash. But of course they could be doing this and I just don’t know. That could be considered a legitimate reason.
Where is your new relocated dog run?? Interesting that yours was unasked for too. Under previous Parks Commissioner Benepe, it often seemed as if they opted to do the opposite of what the community wanted – often just to show they could. Well, maybe they still are doing that. But yes there could be a monetary component to it as well.
Cathryn.
Our new dog run in Haswell Green Park is on the esplanade a two-minute walk (200 yards?) from the previous dog run located in Pavillion Park. It is the crushed stone (sand pit) surfaced dog run that cost about $1 million to build and re-build (which they did due to constant flooding).
I don’t believe these dog runs were forced upon the community in a show of force but rather because the kickbacks were so lucrative on them. All the expensive technology that makes them 10 times more costly than a traditional dog run is located out-of-site — underground. What could be a more perfect set up for a crooked politician?
Perhaps the idea in Washington Square Park is to create the dog run with an outside entrance and then down the line to prohibit dogs within the park altogether? That would not surprise me at all.