Recently City Staff announced dates for two public workshops to explore a new location for a dog park. The Community Service Commission (CSC), which oversees recreational projects, was not notified, however. The Chairman learned about the meeting from a Dispatch article, subsequently discovering the Commission was not included in the specially called meeting, which was planned as a staff-only public workshop. After an objection from the Commission, it was converted to a CSC meeting, but the date was not cleared with the CSC, and the Chairman was unable to attend.
This is the second time Staff has circumvented Commissions recently. A couple months ago it conducted a staff-only public hearing at the tennis center regarding a planned expansion of that facility.
The situation is part of a pattern by the City Council over the past three years to largely ignore Commissions, placing decreasing value on investigation and opinion from these bodies of appointed citizens.
At Wednesday’s workshop, attention focused on Lower Curtis Park and Felipe-Arroyo as potential sites. Twenty-three residents attended and fifteen spoke. The general preference seemed to be Lower Curtis. It is a larger and more remote site, but would likely be more expensive than Felipe-Arroyo or a location adjacent to the Animal Shelter. The next workshop will be on January 19.
