Ithaca Dog Park Initiative

Update on the Packman Committee

Summary of Sept. 29 Meeting

• We have decided to continue working, under the banner of TCDOG, which we want to develop as a membership organization to create the political and economic force necessary to preserve the park.
• A small group (from those at the meeting) is creating a brochure that will solicit membership and outline the purpose and benefits of the organization and the park.
• We are researching the legal status of TCDOG and will do what is needed to reconstitute it.
• We will try to coordinate, or at least initiate, a grass roots campaign (letters, anecdotes, events) that creates pressure for the preservation of the park.
• We will follow-up the contacts that were cultivated several years ago and begin talking to political figures.
• We will research the growth that has occurred in dog park-friendly resources since the last legalization effort.

Summary of Sept. 15 meeting

• We will focus our efforts on trying to legalize the park with the presently utilized boundaries: from the leash sign at the marina through the loop along the lake.
• We may consider trying to establish other off-leash areas (SW Park, Town of Ithaca, Near Bostwick Rd.)
• We will update the tcdog web site
• We will establish a clear, specific message as a group to communicate with officials
• We will determine which officials to contact and appropriate strategies
• We will try to build coalitions with environmentalists, birders and boaters.
• We will continue to distribute the courtesy rules for use of the park
• We will establish relations with the business community, using positive messages about dog-tourism/spending, perhaps joining the Chamber of Commerce
• We would like to continue our efforts by using the established tcdog group.
  • Advantages of doing this are that:
    • tcdog is a state-recognized not-for-profit
    • tcdog did quite a bit of leg work several years ago, establishing strong working relationships with many of the important political figures involved in the process
    • there is an existing institutional memory of tcdog’s work
    • tcdog has some resources (some money and printed t-shirts)
  • Primary disadvantage:
    • some people feel that tcdog attempted a compromise with the Parks Dept on the size of the park and may feel that revitalizing the organization will revive that compromise.
  • So, to answer the question of whether we should continue our work organized as TCDOG, we are surveying everyone interested. Please let me know (don’t clutter the list-serve) your feelings: Kpackman@ithacanhs.org