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Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, 4/29/14. "Neighbors say still no peace at dog park."
"When the city opened the dog park at the eastern end of the Sanchez Art Center, it was a long-awaited victory for those who had raised money and lobbied for it, but it was a long-awaited moment of dread for the neighbors who had complained about its location so close to their homes.
The Pacifica Organization of Canine Helpers (POOCH), who worked hard to help the city choose a location for the park, design it and raise funds for it, has disbanded. Volunteer docents from POOCH were expected to monitor problems at the park, but they have not been present for some time. A former official of POOCH, who wished not to be identified, said the ongoing quips from neighbors saying they are doing their best to get the park closed makes people not want to volunteer. ...
....Tinfow responded in an email to the Trib, "We are evaluating our options. I'm not ready to talk about what they are yet." Read article.
Reference - Dog Tracker, Sanchez Dog Park, 1220 Linda Mar Boulevard. "This smallish dog park behind the Pacifica Center for the Arts has separate fenced areas for large and small dogs. Hours are 10 a.m. to sunset (or 8 p.m., depending on which comes first) Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. The park is closed on Sundays and Tuesdays."
Note photograph from Sacramento SPCA.
Posted by Kathy Meeh
29 comments:
As a user of that dog park, I can say that it's not ideal for us either to have a park that is closed half of the time it would get used (mornings and Sundays).
But, there are no close, legal off-leash alternatives.
Let's help our city manager find some options. Here's an editable map with my ideas for other sites. Please add.
Sharp Park Beach. Approved by council 15 years ago and then conveniently side-tracked by that same council through the behind the scene efforts of one councilman. Deserves a second, serious look. Good luck and don't forget that dog-owners and dogs may have mobility problems.
Frontierland Park would be another good spot. Nothing is being done up there and that spot was passed upon because Nancy Hall, wanted her ampatheatre up there.
why did Pooch disband?
When I first heard we were building this dog park I thought it was a dumb idea.
Now I have a difference of opinion. I recently have been fostering some animals who are wonderful and in need of a home , so this dog park is perfect for them and me because I have three dogs I need to walk. I just wish it was opened more hours. Also, I have noticed, since using the park, that it is always very quiet and handlers/owners are very respectful. How can anyone oppose this benefit to the citizens and dog citizens. I don't get it. I only thought it was a dumb idea because I always traveled with my pets. Now I am much older and have mobility problems.
Sanchez was never intended to be Pacifica's only dog park. No one wants a dog park near them but city-owned parcels are hard to come by and compromises have to be reached. Despite what we hear now, Sanchez was hardly a quiet or pristine site before the dog park. It was in fact a de facto dog park with no rules, no clean up. It will revert to that. The sports fields are heavily utilized and years ago Sanchez was an active elementary school, then a city-run day care site.
For dog owners or dogs with mobility problems, Sanchez was an ideal location. Flat and accessible, easy for seniors. Many people can walk to it. It also is not isolated like lower Frontierland and users feel safe while there.
POOCH was a volunteer partner and to some degree a financial partner by raising funds, but it is the City of Pacifica that is responsible for the park.
There was massive opposition from the neighbors when Frontierland was under consideration. Also opposition from the now-closed Oddstad school. There was fleeting interest from the performing arts community in an amphitheatre but contrary to an earlier poster, Nancy Hall was not a key figure. Some on council at the time were interested in building a bike park up there.
Who might be happiest if Sanchez Dog Park closes? Probably the photographer with a for-profit business in Sanchez who has been relentless and cunning in his opposition. His dog will have the whole place to himself.
4:03
The only opposition to the Frontierland Park was Jimmy V and Nancy Hall cause Nancy wanted the ampatheatre up at Frontierland Park. The park looks like a teenage wasteland.
The reason Frontierland was scrapped as a dog park site was the methane emissions from the old dump.
556, but its okay if humans roam that area? I don't think so.
The photographer does have a dog that hangs out around there. I don't think he has ever harmed anyone. But if the photographer is complained, what are his complaints?
418 No. Not true and warped by your obsession with both parties. As far as the methane gas thing being an obstacle, it wasn't seen as a serious health threat for non-habitation use as a park by humans or dogs. Funds for any required mitigation were supposedly available from a remediation fund Coastside Scavenger had paid into. 20 years @ about $75K per. Hmmm, where the hell is that money? The big obstacle was the organized and strong opposition of people living in the neighborhood and other people whose kids played at the upper level park. Many of those people were members of the volunteer group who improved Frontierland Park and took an "ownership" interest in the entire space. Another big obstacle was the leadership of the group who at that time wanted a dog park at Frontierland. They were very strident and their own worst enemies. Came across extreme, militant, and uncaring about others using the same space. On the other side were moms and little kids. Saying no was so easy for council. Shortly after, Sharp Park Beach was approved as an off-leash doggie beach and then mysteriously derailed. Years later along came Sanchez. And so it goes.
613 His complaints were along the line of I am an artist and have friends in high places who gave me a hell of a deal on this place in which I run my for-profit business and I don't want a dog park here. Other businesses in the Art Center are non-profit. Rents are below market, ie, tax-payer subsidized. His powerful friends have moved on and his deal may have been updated. His dog was never a problem, but why shouldn't the dogs of other Pacifica residents enjoy a dog park on a publicly-owned site? It isn't ideal but neither is it a scene from Dante's Inferno.
Well, Sanchez Dog Park needs to stay. It is quiet, clean and older people mostly use it. So I will do what I can to help it along. Photographer seems to be a nice person and maybe we can make him a deal he can't refuse.
Steven Johnson is the photo guy who rents the 50% tax payer subsidized rent at Sanchez for his for profit business.
Eric Johnson is the guy who posted above.
Steven Johnson has no right to be subsidized by the taxpayers.
This city is run as a welfare city. Sit around and beg for scraps and grants. So being the enablers of the noobees nimbys and hippies and artists, we pay for this mooch.
I want space in Sanchez Art Center,
I should have figured that there was a long history of this issue. It's too bad that the unused area at Frontierland didn't make the cut -- it seems like that site would have avoided most of the problems at Sanchez.
I also agree with the commenters who said that the impact from the dog park is much lower than it would have been when the school was operational. A playground of kids screaming must produce an order of magnitude more noise than the dog park.
If the neighbor's complaints are just about smell and noise, it seems like some thick hedges would go a long way to mitigating those issues.
646 What would you be without your assumptions? The entire facility is subsidized by the tax-payers although to a lesser extent now than 10 years ago. The rents have not been overlooked in the city's hunt for revenue. Individual rents are closed session stuff. Other than the photographer and the credit union, I think the tenants are non-profit. It is an older, city-owned facility and has probably found its highest public use. The city's position is that the arts have value in a community and deserve city support. Most people would agree. A dog park also has great value to the community and deserves city support. No site is going to be without critics and more than one dog park is needed.
@646 You have imagination and drama!
You'd be a shoo-in for space at the Sanchez.
What? Steven Johnson is a 7 figure + corporation. They should not be getting subsidized space. Are you kidding me? Here's what he's selling an inkjet print for on his site $800 http://www.sjphoto.com/new-photo-20140225_yosemite_0095.html
Whe else is getting lowered rent? Who decides?
140 City Council decides in closed session. We can only hope they demand full financial disclosure when they set the rent and that they recognize he is for-profit. IMO his rent should be based not only on square feet but also on business volume. We don't know if that's the case or even if the lease allows for that. If he can get $800 for a print, then he is one of Pacifica's most successful retailers. That's not a problem we want to chase off, but the city should get some of that back in rent.
Now, his attitude toward another tenant, the community dog park, that's a problem.
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344 I'm beginning to see the problem. How awkward and humbling it must be to charge some budding Ansel Adams that kind of money for a "one on one learning experience" and when they show up for class it's next door to a dog park. Forget the rough edges of LMBlvd and the screaming kids next door at the sports fields, it's those damn dogs. Oh well.
4:19
Just say no.
Guess I'm lucky. I had Steve Johnson for my photography teacher at Skyline in the 80's. I can give you lessons.
4:19
The problem is the city is going down the fiscal drain and we are subsidizing this guys for profit business.
Was Skyline free then?
Does anybody know how much per square foot he's paying? Without that info, there's no way to know that he's being subsidized.
I have no problem if he, as an artist, is subsidized to the same degree as the city has chosen to subsidize other tenants in the building. No problem with a city decision to subsidize non-profit artists. By that, I mean a below-market rate per square foot and whatever deal the others get on utilities and operating costs, insurance and such. And regular upward adjustment of those costs to the tenants. However, he and any other for-profit business in the Sanchez should be paying a percentage of their sales to the city. If that is unacceptable to a for-profit tenant, then they can look for a better deal with a different landlord. Lotsa luck with that. I suspect there may be some inherited entanglements between the city and Mr. Johnson of which we are unaware and which will be excused as "intangible value to the city".
519 Really? My post was sarcasm, heavy with it, I thought.
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