A Solution for Mayor Funkhouser

Yesterday, KMBC TV ran an article about how Mayor Funkhouser is concerned that citizens don't feel safe in the city's parks. 

I won't get into the complete absurdity that the "news" station focused its story on Loose Park -- easily among the city's safest parks -- as opposed to focusing on the parks that have even bigger issues.

But I do want to propose a solution...that actually improves two problems in one.

One of the reasons that people don't necessarily feel safe in many of the city's parks is because most of the parks have relatively few people in them. If there are other people around, they feel safe, because if "something happened" there would be someone there to help them.  So as people quit going to parks, parks become less populated, which makes them feel less safe, and the cycle continues.  There is nothing that makes someone feel unsafe like being the only person in an empty area with a lot of trees/wooded areas around for unsavories to hide and stash their bodies.

So let's create something that will instantly draw people to the parks -- getting bodies in the parks will perpetuate itself.

An easy way to do this is to build a lot of smaller-sized dog parks (small in size, but not necessarily for small dogs -- although some should be for that too).   Roughly 45% of Kansas Citians own dogs...most would love a close, convenient dog park for their dogs to run, play and socialize with other dogs.

The City of Calgary, Ontario has 83 total dog parks in the city -- a community that's roughly double the population of Kansas City, MO -- which has 1 dog park and is working on a 2nd. 

Calgary's rush to build a lot of dog parks has happened over the past 15 years to solve a completely different problem.  In 1985, Calgary had a peak in dog-related incidents -- at approximately 2,000 incidences.  Since then, they've adopted other policies and built over 4,500 acres of dog parks (totalling approximately 25% of their total park space).  In 2006, they had only 400 dog-related incidents in spite of doubling the human and dog population in that time.  Even with that much dog-park land, Bill Bruce, the head of animal control in Calgary, says that their off-leash areas are almost maxed out. (Editor's Note: I would like to note that Mr. Bruce is going to be coming to Kansas City on September 15 for the Canine Legislation Conference to talk about the success of Calgary's dog ordinance -- in a talk that we do intend to open up to local civic leaders who would be interested in finding out about how a real affective ordinance works -- so put it on your calendar if you're interested).

So let's see, if we use a larger portion of Kansas City's 9,776 acres of park space to dog parks, not only would they increase attendence at parks (that everyone benefits from, because with some of the park space in use, the rest of it becomes "safer" because there are other people around), we can increase the usage of public parks, AND help increase the socialization of the city's dogs and make the city's citizens safer from non-socialized dogs.

If money is the problem, let's use Mark Forsythe's idea (damn you Mark for beating me to this as I SHOULD be both a better dog person and advertising person than you) presented here (see Nov 10 entry) and sell advertising on the fencing to companies looking to reach dog people (there are a lot of them). 

Problems solved.  More used parks.  Safer parks.  More dog-friendly areas and thus fewer dog attacks.  Mostly paid for by advertisers. 

Just a thought. 

Comments

[Marjorie]

In many parks, especially where dogs are permitted to be off-leash, as much as 75% of daily park users say they're there for the expressed purpose of exercising their dogs. Yet, people using parks for this purpose are routinely left out of discussions on how those parks are managed.

I ask, who should have more say in how a park is managed than the majority of those who actually use the park on a regular basis?

Now, not every park is populated primarily by people walking dogs. That's fair enough. Parks departments should do relevant research, then develop strategies to advance usage in the way the city would like.

I know all too well that the uninformed seem to think off-leash time is some kind of over-indulgent luxury. When, in reality, it is the cornerstone of proper socialization, which is in the best interests of everyone.

You were hinting at that, in terms of Calgary's success in reducing dog bites. Officials there understand that with ample access to off-leash areas for proper socialization, exercise, and training, dogs in Calgary are simply more likely to be better behaved than cities where dog owners don't have access to such places.

Well-socialized dogs don't bite unprovoked. Dogs that learn to control their own behaviour around strangers, off-leash (rather than being managed by some kind of physical restraint), and who learn to obey their owners' verbal commands while off-leash, tend to be much better behaved overall, as well.

As someone who takes her dog to an off-leash park pretty much every day of the year (and I dislike going to the same one two days in a row...it's boring), I find it kind of amusing that much of the rest of the parks are virtual ghost towns by comparison, while people scramble to grab the last available parking spots near the entrances to the off-leash areas.

Indeed, an off-leash area isn't just in the best interests of society, it WILL attract more people to the park. And, if properly managed, everyone can coexist amicably.

(At one popular dog park I used to frequent, many off-leash area users would spend time socializing their dogs, then leash them and stroll out into the rest of the park, to enjoy the other sights and sounds the park has to offer.)

[Michelled]

Swope Park needs to start on this ASAP. The biggest, beautiful and most UNDER used park in KC. And yes, safety is the #1 concern with this park...

[Brent]

yes Michelle. If I remember correctly, Swope I think is the 2nd largest city park in the country (behind only Central Park, NY). It's completely underutilized -- with tons of open, unused Green Space. It's a complete no-brainer.

The harder part is what to do with so many of KC's smaller parks. One thing that Calgary has focused on is "a dog park for every neighborhood" -- this saves a lot in gas money, improves neighborhoods (people are walking to/from the park with their dogs, livening up the neighborhoods) and using the parks. Plus, with so many dog parks, they don't necessarily need to be the large size of the one at Penn Valley or the one at Swope (when they finally to it). They can be much smaller, maybe just 2 or 3 times the size of the ad hoc "dog park" at Holmes Park that is really just an enclosed roller-hockey rink.

But yes, they should start building the one in Swope immediately, as well as the one being done by WOOF.

[KC Sponge]

I don't even have a dog and I love dog parks. Yeah, it's good for the socialization of dogs, but the people get their fill as well. I've never been so openly greeted (well, except when I was pregnant) by people as I am when I am there. It almost makes me forget that I'm being slobbered on. almost.