With White Rock Dog Park Getting a Million-Dollar Makeover, Should We Be Investing More in Southern Dallas Instead?
Photo: DogTipper.com
Great story from our favorite Dallas Observer reporter, Eric Nicholson, on the proposed $1 million makeover the White Rock Dog Park is getting.
It’s probably the most popular dog park in all of North Texas, considering that when I’ve taken my Great Pyrenees mix there, I’ve run into folks from Frisco and Murphy. It gets a lot of use, and some days it’s little more than a fenced-in mudhole, so it could definitely use some work. But $1 million worth of work?
Maybe the world is ending, but I’ve finally found something Dallas City Councilman Dwaine Caraway and I can agree on. Caraway, no stranger to colorful language, represents District 4, an underserved area of Southern Dallas.
“I just want to make it a point, we don’t have a dog park, and doggone it, if all these millions of dollars in these dog parks with air conditioned dog houses and all these other things that they got going, then give us something,” Caraway said. “At least put us in a plan for a dog park somewhere.”
Folks in Oak Cliff have been working to bring a dog park to their neighborhood, but roadblock after roadblock has kept organizations such as FIDO Oak Cliff from realizing their dream. Add the existing problem with stray and dumped dogs throughout Southern Dallas and … let’s just say I see what Caraway is getting at. It’s a quality of life issue. Until we really focus resources in underserved areas, Southern Dallas isn’t going to thrive no matter how many great-sounding initiatives Mayor Mike Rawlings launches.
“Our priority has been what? Stray dogs,” Caraway told Unfair Park this morning. “Well goddamn, that’s kinda unfair that we’re fighting stray dogs that we can’t pick up” and Greyson and Allen are suggesting they should pour their cut of bond money into dog parks.
“Our priorities are totally different from what they’re saying,” he says. “We’re already the ones that are under-recognized, for lack of a better word, economically.”
Dog parks are huge selling points in neighborhoods, and the White Rock Lake area has benefited handsomely from having a huge off-leash park in the area. It has permanently etched the neighborhood’s reputation as a dog-friendly area in the minds of all North Texans. If neighborhoods south of the Trinity had park facilities such as these, they’d benefit from that investment, too.
What do you think? Are dog parks amenities that add a significant value to a property’s location? Or are they more of a liability than we think?
City of Richardson thinks they're a liability, apparently due to potential dog bite issues. I asked a year ago, and more or less got bitch slapped.
City of Richardson thinks they're a liability, apparently due to potential dog bite issues. I asked a year ago, and more or less got bitch slapped.
I hate to knock this because I have friends who have worked very hard to raise funds for this park, and it is great for my property value, but we have starving, injured, dumped dogs all over underserved areas of Dallas and want to spend $1 million on a freaking dog park? I don't care about my property values – it's not right. How about $1 million to hire more animal control officers so that strays can be picked up? Or more code enforcers who can issue citations and enforce animal laws that we have on the books that are not being enforced (like breeding without a permit in Dallas which is adding to the overpopulation problem? chained dogs? etc.). A fancy dog park? Try coming with me to South or West Dallas to find starving, sick strays…and then decide if a remodeled dog park is worth $1 million….
Obviously everyone knows I'm a nutty dog lady but there are thousands of other things the city could spend the money on… I know our public schools could use this money…or it could help Dallas Animal Services, or underserved areas of Dallas, etc. Everyone wants a pretty park or for their neighborhood to look nice, but White Rock Dog Park is not in bad shape to where it needs $1 million worth of upgrades. My dogs are my children and of course we would LOVE a nice dog park…BUT this does not make sense when there are so many other issue areas in this city that need that type of assistance. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
I hate to knock this because I have friends who have worked very hard to raise funds for this park, and it is great for my property value, but we have starving, injured, dumped dogs all over underserved areas of Dallas and want to spend $1 million on a freaking dog park? I don't care about my property values – it's not right. How about $1 million to hire more animal control officers so that strays can be picked up? Or more code enforcers who can issue citations and enforce animal laws that we have on the books that are not being enforced (like breeding without a permit in Dallas which is adding to the overpopulation problem? chained dogs? etc.). A fancy dog park? Try coming with me to South or West Dallas to find starving, sick strays…and then decide if a remodeled dog park is worth $1 million….
Obviously everyone knows I'm a nutty dog lady but there are thousands of other things the city could spend the money on… I know our public schools could use this money…or it could help Dallas Animal Services, or underserved areas of Dallas, etc. Everyone wants a pretty park or for their neighborhood to look nice, but White Rock Dog Park is not in bad shape to where it needs $1 million worth of upgrades. My dogs are my children and of course we would LOVE a nice dog park…BUT this does not make sense when there are so many other issue areas in this city that need that type of assistance. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
It's great that the city of Dallas is spending money on anything animal-related, but of all the things to spend money on, prettifying the dog park at White Rock Lake just seems like cosmetic pandering. Obviously it's going to please a lot of mainstream white middle-class voters – but it would be nice to see the city council spend money on initiatives that will improve the welfare of animals and not just make people feel good.
Love you Teresa!
It's great that the city of Dallas is spending money on anything animal-related, but of all the things to spend money on, prettifying the dog park at White Rock Lake just seems like cosmetic pandering. Obviously it's going to please a lot of mainstream white middle-class voters – but it would be nice to see the city council spend money on initiatives that will improve the welfare of animals and not just make people feel good.
Love you Teresa!
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