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Editorial: Working like a dog park
Op-Ed · September 04, 2014
Congratulations to Dog Park Inc., the city’s Animal Commission and the many volunteers and civic groups who helped create the new West Branch Dog Park.
From placing donation jars around the city to talking to the West Branch City Council to rolling up sleeves and getting the hard, down-in-the-dirt work done on the property at the intersection of 280th Street and Downey Street, these folks spent more than four years taking this from an idea to a reality.
Acquiring the land, tearing out the former hog-buying building, building shelters and benches, putting up fencing, building the new sign and knocking on doors and sending letters to gather much-needed donations — groups like the West Branch Lions Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and many individuals really came together to make something nice and with great community pride.
As you can see in the story on last week’s grand opening, the dog park idea came from a conversation between former Animal Control Commission member Dick Slach and former Police Chief David Bloem trying to figure out what to do about pet owners who want to walk their dogs without a leash.
Not everyone has a dog, and not everyone who owns a dog takes it on long walks through the town. So this approach, hard and long as it was, was likely the best way to approach this project. Those interested in seeing the dog park come to life had ample opportunities to donate time, money and resources to making it happen. Now that it is up and running, fees collected from users — starting at $15 a year for residents with spayed or neutered pets — are quite reasonable and hopefully will pull in to maintain a nice-looking facility.
Dog Park Inc. President Amy Lynch, Animal Control Commission Chairman Dr. Alan Beyer and volunteer Angela Kessler deserve congratulations for leading the charge for building the city’s third developed park, as noted by City Administrator Matt Muckler.
We hope to see it widely used and cared for as a new amenity in the City of West Branch.
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