well, the denny park event was a success in spite of the rain. and there were an number of dogs who stopped by.
from our little dog rally we learned a couple of things, some surprising and some not so. the most surprising lesson from the event was how divisive an issue dogs are, or more specifically dog parks. it seems there's a lot of fear that dogs will monopolize the limited open spaces.
we also learned that there is indeed demand for more dog friendly space. however, many seem indifferent about participating. for example, we spoke to a number of dog related businesses in the area. most/all were supportive of the idea but few had the time or the inclination to learn more about what we're doing.
it seems, quite reasonably, that dog walking is segmented into very specific neighborhood locations. for example, belltown people go to the off leash are on 3rd and bell, SLU people have other green (but not off leash) areas, and some buildings have dog areas on rooftops, etc. denny triangle and the 2200 area, however, are still without a long term solution.
one really cool discovery is that we have a friend among the denny family descendants. the great grand daughter of denny, who gave a very touching speech at the event, is also supportive of allocating part of denny park to an off leash area.
our strategy going forward is as follows:
- develop cost estimates for building and maintaining a quality and people-compatible off leash area. dave, owner of
scraps dog bakery, was recently elected to the board of
COLA, so will help with the cost data. this is fantastic news, actually! COLA brings tremendous information resources and experience to bear on our project.
- survey potential locations for an off leash area, including but not limited to a small portion of denny park
- develop an (e)mailing list of interested seattle urbanites. we'd like to keep people informed of our progress and solicit input for location and design, as well as environment issues, for a new off leash area.
as always, all are welcome to leave comments on this blog and/or email us directly with comments, questions, and concerns.
and finally, we did manage to get
some press -- but were only visually prepresedted as the article about more to do with the current park plan. here's a few more photos of dogs who attended the event (sorry i was not able photograph all who came):
redmond real estate blog posted some pix of a really snazzy looking park (left). those redmond dogs really have it made. the closest thing we have to a water front dog park is that little beach just below the olympic sculpture park. 
