Carson City, NV, Gardnerville, NV and Minden, NV do not have dog parks. In fact, most parks in this area do not allow dogs period end of story. Tahoe, too. Everyone here is supposed to be rich and have a house with a yard, I guess. Too bad, not everyone is. These cities do not treat their taxpaying residents here all that well. I recently found out about the County Social services. I have never had a lot of respect for government services but I figured that they must help some people, right.
Turns out that they have guidelines they follow that work if people are living back in the 1970’s. Too bad for you if you happen to be living in 2007. A single person is considered able to support themselves on $438 a month. Unfortunately a majority of landlords happen to be living in 2007 in these parts and the average rental cost is $780 a month, without utilities, which can be another $200 on top of that easily. So if you are making less than $1,500 a month, you are in trouble.
According to Social Services, if a person works, they are penalized for working. They will deduct any measly amount, let’s say $300 you made at the fast food joint off of the $438 and give you $138. If you are a teenager living at home, I guess that’s ok, good enough. Mom and dad are paying the rent. But if you are a landlord who is charging $800 a month rent, are you going to accept $138 from your tenant for the rent? I think not. Good old catch 22.
Is it any wonder that people are having a hard time these days with low wages, high rents/mortgages, exorbitant credit card fees, skyrocketing gas prices and devaluing of the dollar.Back in the 1970’s, we had it pretty good and didn’t know it.
Back then, I earned about $450 a month as a secretary working for the City of Los Angeles Planning Department. My rent was $150 a month, including utilities. My car payment was $50 a month. It was a new car and cost about $5,000. And food, gas and insurance was about $150 a month. I had about $75 discretionary income. Gas prices were about 25-50 cents a gallon and food prices were a lot less than they are now. You could even buy stuff for a dime or a quarter.
But I digress… Part of the reason that my dog got hit by a car is because there is no dedicated dog park here. There is ONE park that dog owners use to take their dogs to but it is not fenced and not available on the weekends because of dog shows and fairs. In August, I did not have a fenced yard so I resorted to taking my dog running wherever I could but given the lack of dog parks, it was a constant search. On the weekends, I would take her to the high school, because it IS fenced off, for the most part and the students and teachers are absent.
I had not planned to talk about this today. Actually, I took my dog for a walk and we ran into a horse. Or rather, we visited with a neighboring horse in a corral down the street. We didn’t get too close. But my dog LOVES cavorting with other animals and she was anxious to say hello to the horse. The horse did not look very friendly so I kept our distance. Didn’t want my dog to get run over by a horse. She had a close call this past summer with two llamas who almost trampled her.
I researched horse and dog relationships and found this great site that also tells where there are various dog parks in Marin county and Oakland, CA and also suggests how to create a dog park in towns/cities that don’t have them.I sent this info to the local columnist who writes about dogs and who has advocated for a dog park, as well as to the parks and recs folks who are supposedly working on it… by the time they get it together to create a dog park, I probably won’t be living here anymore.
It’s clear that if/when we citizens of the world want to get ANYTHING actually DONE in this world then we have to do it and not wait for the government to do it… just take a look at the recent examples in New Orleans, Iraq, and California. Enough said about that, here is how you can advocate and create a dog park…
http://www.odogparks.org/howto.html
Locate one or two potential sites –little used sites will be easiest for the city to approve.
Get endorsement from neighbors and other stakeholders –both dog owners and others. Petitions or letters work best. keep your own record of the e-mail, phone and other contactinformation for every person who signs. They will become dog park volunteers and supporters.
Develop a proposed site plan–indicating fencing, signage, surfacing and vegetation. The City can provide aerial photos and other maps as a starting place for most parks.Don’t perfect the plan, just give the city an idea of what is desired. There will be plenty of changes to your initial plan.
Develop a budget–from the site plan. Fencing costs about $12 per linear foot. Gates cost about $500. The city will help cost out the other items, because most work is done using thecity’s contractors and suppliers.
Start fundraising—The less money the city has to provide, the easier it will be for them to approve new park facilities. Learn from other park projects in Oakland friends of Oakland parks and from other dog parks around the country caldog.org.Build coalitions–Other park users, merchants, parents, environmentalists can all help make the need for a dog park clear to the city.Meet your City Council member— Early meetings with your council person or staff aide can help identify areas of support and area of concern.Don’t reinvent the wheel–Stay in touch with other dog park advocates–not just those in your own neighborhood or city. Resources and solutions are gladly shared. Check out resources for starting a dog park at the California Dog Owners Group (link to http://www.caldog.org/off_leash_links.php)
and what to do if your dog meets a horse…
http://www.odogparks.org/partners.html
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