Betty Whitman says the city’s plans to put a rapid transit corridor through the Parker Wetlands and Brenda Leipsic off-leash park where she and her black lab 'Chance' come practically every day, are unacceptable.
“No, we need this park absolutely,” she said.
“Our back yard is not that big and my legs are not what they used to be. He’s in good shape because we play ‘chuck it’ and Frisbee. I’d be lost without this park,” she said.
Whitman said it’d be great, especially for the dogs, if there were an organized group to watch over the park.
“That would be awesome, somebody to stand up and speak for them. They don’t have a voice.”
An organized group is something River Heights-Fort Garry councillor John Orlikow would also like to see.
He said it could make all the difference.
“We do need advocacy if people want to keep this land green,” he said.
Orlikow said he hopes a rally last Saturday gets dog owners talking about organizing a group like Maple Grove Park Dog Owners’ Association, or the Kilcona Park Dog Club.
Parker Wetlands Conservation rally, June 8. “No, we need this park absolutely,” she said.
“Our back yard is not that big and my legs are not what they used to be. He’s in good shape because we play ‘chuck it’ and Frisbee. I’d be lost without this park,” she said.
Whitman said it’d be great, especially for the dogs, if there were an organized group to watch over the park.
“That would be awesome, somebody to stand up and speak for them. They don’t have a voice.”
An organized group is something River Heights-Fort Garry councillor John Orlikow would also like to see.
He said it could make all the difference.
“We do need advocacy if people want to keep this land green,” he said.
Orlikow said he hopes a rally last Saturday gets dog owners talking about organizing a group like Maple Grove Park Dog Owners’ Association, or the Kilcona Park Dog Club.
Brenda Leipsic, like other off-leash parks, in limbo
“No one is telling us they don’t want the land. We need the dog park people to become engaged and take ownership of the land…help cleaning it up, maybe get some benches in there, that kind of stuff. We need to fence it, because there’s just too many trains going by. So we need to be looking at a whole bunch of things.”
He’s also planning to put up a park sign to encourage people to get involved.
“Absolutely. That’s what I’m hoping to accomplish out of this bulletin board,” he said.
Orlikow said the dog park, like others in the city such as Kilcona, and a popular but unofficial dog park in Charleswood, is “in limbo.”
He also welcomes proposed off-leash park guidelines that the city is currently reviewing internally, saying they will help the big picture conversation about off-leash areas in the city.
“We really don’t have a good policy and good direction on actually having proper dog parks, in my opinion,“ he said. “You go to other cities and you go ‘wow.’
We do need a vision and a strategy. It’s quite important to have these dog parks. If we don’t, what ends up happening … is people start using community centres and school fields, which is not the most appropriate place to have off-leash parks.”
Asmara Polcyn of Winnipeg Woof Pack “No one is telling us they don’t want the land. We need the dog park people to become engaged and take ownership of the land…help cleaning it up, maybe get some benches in there, that kind of stuff. We need to fence it, because there’s just too many trains going by. So we need to be looking at a whole bunch of things.”
He’s also planning to put up a park sign to encourage people to get involved.
“Absolutely. That’s what I’m hoping to accomplish out of this bulletin board,” he said.
Orlikow said the dog park, like others in the city such as Kilcona, and a popular but unofficial dog park in Charleswood, is “in limbo.”
He also welcomes proposed off-leash park guidelines that the city is currently reviewing internally, saying they will help the big picture conversation about off-leash areas in the city.
“We really don’t have a good policy and good direction on actually having proper dog parks, in my opinion,“ he said. “You go to other cities and you go ‘wow.’
We do need a vision and a strategy. It’s quite important to have these dog parks. If we don’t, what ends up happening … is people start using community centres and school fields, which is not the most appropriate place to have off-leash parks.”
Importance of park growing as other greenspace lost
Asmara Polcyn knows the Brenda Leipsic off-leash park intimately.
Probably “blade-of-grass-wise,” she laughs.
Polcyn is a dog trainer and lives nearby.
She says the dog park has recently become even more popular, and more important to dog owners, after they lost an informal off-leash area next to Argue Street when the Southwest Rapid Transit corridor was built. Now condos are going up there, too.
Polcyn said everyone migrated to Brenda Leipsic.
“So when we hear that this place too is now under threat, it’s devastating,” she said.
She too hopes some of those people organize to fight for the park, but she sounds a note of cynicism.
“I guess the optimistic are getting organized and the rest of us … have watched this money from city hall go to developers year after year after year and go into concrete and parking lots and more stores.”
She is however happy to hear the city is working on developing guidelines for off-leash areas overall.
“I’m glad that they’re talking about it because there’s a serious lack of facilities,” she said.
“The more opportunity these dogs have to meet other dogs and interact in polite and socially appropriate ways, the less kids we're going to have getting bitten in the face.”
Polcyn said she’s loosely involved with the Parker Wetlands Conservation group and is optimistic dogs and wetlands can co-exist.
Especially given the hydro wires that run above the green space.
“You know how we have power outages with all the geese flying into them? When you run geese off with dogs, generally they don’t come back for three days. So golf courses, other places, all these places could be employing off-leash dogs,” she said. “Dogs with jobs!”
Asmara Polcyn knows the Brenda Leipsic off-leash park intimately.
Probably “blade-of-grass-wise,” she laughs.
Polcyn is a dog trainer and lives nearby.
She says the dog park has recently become even more popular, and more important to dog owners, after they lost an informal off-leash area next to Argue Street when the Southwest Rapid Transit corridor was built. Now condos are going up there, too.
Polcyn said everyone migrated to Brenda Leipsic.
“So when we hear that this place too is now under threat, it’s devastating,” she said.
She too hopes some of those people organize to fight for the park, but she sounds a note of cynicism.
“I guess the optimistic are getting organized and the rest of us … have watched this money from city hall go to developers year after year after year and go into concrete and parking lots and more stores.”
She is however happy to hear the city is working on developing guidelines for off-leash areas overall.
“I’m glad that they’re talking about it because there’s a serious lack of facilities,” she said.
“The more opportunity these dogs have to meet other dogs and interact in polite and socially appropriate ways, the less kids we're going to have getting bitten in the face.”
Polcyn said she’s loosely involved with the Parker Wetlands Conservation group and is optimistic dogs and wetlands can co-exist.
Especially given the hydro wires that run above the green space.
“You know how we have power outages with all the geese flying into them? When you run geese off with dogs, generally they don’t come back for three days. So golf courses, other places, all these places could be employing off-leash dogs,” she said. “Dogs with jobs!”