Chamber of Commerce letter to City Council: Oppose proposed GGNRA dog management restrictions

01/25/2014

Pacifica City Council
Re:  GGNRA Proposal

More than 50% open space land for all to enjoy
for exercise and recreation. Aren't we people too?  

The Pacifica Chamber of Commerce has followed, with concern, the GGNRA's attempt to further limit access to GGNRA dedicated land.  Poor science coupled with overzealousness combined to produce a proposal that will effectively ban dogs from these parks. This is unprecedented overreach on the GGNRA's part, counterproductive to their mandate.

Our city is made up of over fifty percent open space and the great majority of that space is GGNRA dedicated land. Much of this land was moved from private ownership to public lands with the assumption that it would be available for all to enjoy in a myriad of ways. The GGNRA is attempting to change that access drastically.

Dog advocacy groups from Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo County have sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, requesting the Interior Department to intercede on behalf of the thousands of dog walkers that use those trails regularly. These groups point out:

"The GGNRA plan severely cuts or entirely bans where people with dogs, who have been welcomed together in these areas for decades, will be able to walk in the future, without offering any evidence to prove the need for such dramatic changes. This supplemental plan, like the draft before, lists impacts and damage that “could,” “may,” or “might” happen, but offers no scientific evidence that those impacts have actually occurred in the GGNRA or are occurring now. Moreover, the GGNRA has not conducted the site-specific, peer reviewed studies required to justify and guide such broad proposed changes in managing this urban recreation area."

Pacifica is home to thousands of dog owners and their pets. Further restricting their ability to recreate with their dogs will impact our local dog parks detrimentally, creating an untenable overcrowding problem. Cutting the use of GGNRA land as proposed will bring undue hardship on dog owners and our city's infrastructure. The dog groups go on to point out:

"The GGNRA plan severely cuts or entirely bans where people with dogs, who have been welcomed together in these areas for decades, will be able to walk in the future, without offering any evidence to prove the need for such dramatic changes. This supplemental plan, like the draft before, lists impacts and damage that “could,” “may,” or “might” happen, but offers no scientific evidence that those impacts have actually occurred in the GGNRA or are occurring now. Moreover, the GGNRA has not conducted the site-specific, peer reviewed studies required to justify and guide such broad proposed changes in managing this urban recreation area."  

The Pacifica Chamber of Commerce requests our City Council send a letter to U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Congress Woman Jackie Speier, State Senator Jerry Hill, and Assemblyman Kevin Mullins expressing opposition to this plan as it stands now. We tout our open space as an attraction yet, if this goes forward, one of our leading outdoor activities, walking with your pet, will be so severely restricted as to be nonexistent.

The Chamber of Commerce believes the move in this direction will impact local businesses and impede the overall enjoyment of these dedicated open spaces. 

Sincerely, 
Jim Wagner,  Chair, Government Affairs Committee 
Pacifica Chamber of Commerce 

The letter above was submitted by Jim Wagner
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Reference -   National Park Service (NPS), GGNRA Dog Management Plan.  NPS Dog Management Planning updates.  For related Fix Pacific reprint articles on this site, search "GGNRA Dog Management".  Note:  the above photograph is from Save Off Leash areas in the SF Bay Area.  

Posted by Kathy Meeh