Similarly, Christina has been getting responses to an e-mail she sent to Council earlier in the week. Those responses emphasize that things are moving more quickly than ever before and are on a pretty high priority. The common theme is that no Council member wants us to underestimate the city's commitment to providing a dog park.
This is great and I don't doubt that most are in favor and nobody on Council is outright opposed to off-leash play right now. I also realize that things have been moving more quickly over the past two months, but this does not absolve Council of responsibility for the delays. Much of the work that they're scrambling to complete now - the ordinance change, rules, agreements, etc - should have been done long ago. They only have to work fast now because this wasn't completed last summer as it should have been to meet the initial target for Swift Run of fall 2006.
Beyond all of that, the frustration that we have been trying to express has to do with the difference between active and passive representation. Most Council Members may be in favor of dog runs, but their pattern has been one of passively waiting for plans to come to them rather than actively supporting our needs and pushing for resolution to the issue. Realistically I wonder how much work would be going now if we hadn't been making noise all summer. I seriously doubt that any temporary solution would be in the works.
I addressed Council last night on this issue, but unfortunately didn't get through the entire statement that I prepared. So I'm posting it here. Enjoy.
Hello and thank you for hearing me today.
I'm hear to speak with you again about the ongoing struggle to get an off-leash dog area in Ann Arbor.
First let me say thank you for passing the ordinance change to make this possible. Many of us saw that as a sign of hope that progress will be made on this issue and the unanimity of it is most encouraging.
The day after the ordinance change became policy, Parks staff held a community meeting about a plan to construct a temporary off-leash area at Southeast Area Park. This is to be a sort of stop-gap solution until the permanent Swift Run plan can be completed. The response at that meeting was overwhelmingly positive and we were thrilled that the city was finally taking action.
You will recall, however, that this body amended PACs ordinance change resolution taking the authority for establishing off-leash areas out of the hands of Parks staff and putting it in the hands of City Council. In so doing you placed an extra hurdle, not necessarily an unreasonable one, but a hurdle nonetheless in the road to resolving this problem that we've been struggling with for so long.
It has now been four weeks since that public meeting and the only thing keeping work from beginning on the off-leash area is Council approval. I had been told that you would hear the plan this week, but when I checked the agenda Friday, I didn't see it. So I did some checking around and I was told that Council has decided not to hear this plan until August 6 so that it can be heard at the same time as the final city-county agreement for Swift Run.
That is to say that you are actively delaying the stop-gap solution until we are closer to enacting the permanent plan. Doesn't that seem a bit like waiting to put a bandage on a cut until you can make a doctor's appointment to determine if you need stitches?
When I spoke to this body way back on June 4, I asked for you to heed the urgency of this issue and to actively represent the needs of dog owning taxpayers. The response then, as every other time that I have asked about this issue, has been that plans are in the works and that if I just wait a little bit longer, something will happen.
This is not active representation. If you were serious about representing dog owners, you could take a pro-active role in making sure that plans are developed, reach council, and are approved. But your history is one of passively waiting for plans to come to you. Even the Swift Run plan was initiated by the county who came to YOU with a proposal. If you were interested in actively supporting our needs, the ordinance change, rules agreements, etc would have been heard last summer since we were told that Swift Run was to be completed last fall. When Swift Run was not finished by last fall, an active representative would have gone to Parks and asked for something to be done quickly to meet the needs.
When the ordinance change came up, you actively inserted yourselves into the process. If you were concerned about actively representing dog owning voters, you would then have actively followed up on the Southeast Area plan to be sure that it got to Council quickly and that the extra hurdle you put in the process did not cause any more delays than necessary. But instead, you have actively put the plan off for yet another meeting cycle.
By the time you hear the Southeast Area plan, it will have been a month and a half. That's a month and a half of delay caused by this body's refusal to actively represent dog owners.
It is clear now that you don't understand the urgency of this situation or what we mean when we say that we desperately need a pro-active group of elected representatives. I am greatly disappointed in this body and I hope that some day you will understand that all we have wanted for these years of begging is for our elected representatives to recognize us as their constituents and to stand up and actively try to find solutions to our needs. Stop passively waiting for solutions to come to you, represent us now.
With the next Council election cycle coming up, many of us are considering whether we have the right representatives in office. For many of us, dog parks are a major voting issue. For some people it is the only issue. Before the last year's elections we were told that Swift Run was going to happen in October, conveniently right after the elections. This summer we are hearing strangely similar things. But actions speak louder than words and right now we are hearing that we are at the bottom of the priority list. Those of you facing contested seats this round may wish to consider this as November draws near.
Thank you for your time.
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