Who Let The Dogs Out?

Perhaps, it really is all in the planning?

It is hard to believe that the Windham Path is now home to a dog park— sort of. What we have is fencing in a field. This is supposed to be the dog park area but, at present it lacks little things like: benches, dog toys, water access , and landscaping. So, what we do in fact have is a .90 acre area of the Windham Path with a hastily installed cyclone fence with a sign that says Dog Park Coming! The fence was installed approximately in late June and July of this year (2024). It is now Labor Day Weekend— as I write this piece of informational essay for the town’s edification . Our park has progressed somewhat; it now has two holes and an unfinished pathway leading into the dog park. It’s not clear what function the holes provide at present.

Perhaps, I’m just a stickler for safety but, it seems very dangerous for holes like this to be left in the ground with nothing more than old-log bench seats used to haphazardly cover them. Thus, leaving gaps large enough for a small child to fall into. Perhaps, I would have used plywood or even better those steel plates they use to cover holes in road ways when they work on them. After all these holes are going to be essentially open to the public this entire weekend and until the Volunteers who dug these holes await the arrival of the Town Dot to install some water lines. When this water line installation will occur, I was not informed. However, given the man power shortage in the Highway Department of Windham it might be awhile until these holes are finished. It’s bizarre the town has just allowed this group of volunteer’s to dig holes in the ground of public property in the first place. And it is even more bizarre that no one thinks that perhaps the town’s at total risk for this project if dangerous conditions like this exist for any time. It’s not that the holes in and of themselves are the problem—the problem clearly is that they chose to cover them with materials of the wrong nature. And instead of making them safe to the general public during this busy period of time, they in fact made them more dangerous not less dangerous to young curious children. But, more importantly the Dog Park is just another symptom of the problem with the current management philosophy of this town: a lack of transparency.

I was curious if our Town Supervisor who was present would seem to notice the issues with the gapping holes? I think he was too engaged in conversation to notice them. I suspect the presence of the Supervisor at the Path today was so he could give one of his tours about the glory of the new Sports Complex—but, that is speculation on my part. The Path was packed with visitors from states as far as VT and NJ. I’m curious if our Town Supervisor did any straw polling to see what tourists thought of his idea to build a sports complex on the property ? Or how much they enjoyed his as yet unfinished dog park? But, back to our main topic— why the dog park exists in the first place?

From the Original Proposal For The Dog Park

The dog park has been a troubled operation from the start with murky funding based on donations from a GoFund me. One wonders how such an unreliable funding method as crowdsourced funding can be used for a public project? But that question is like asking the meaning of life—nearly impossible to answer at this point I suspect. This particular fund drive has been desperately slow in reaching the goal of $35,000 dollars. At one point the Dog Park’s entire budget was supposed to range between $37,700.00 and $50, 900. And at one point a group named “Friends of Olivia” claimed they had $3,190.00 in one document already raised to help fund it. It is unclear that the Town received this money. So the question is what is the total budget? As it stands today it is anyone’s guess.

Even after repeatedly using New York State’s Freedom Of Information Law [FOIL] I’ve come no closer to discovering the final budget numbers. In fact, I just received a letter in the mail that says my most recent FOIL to obtain emails about the budget and communications with NGO’s and Officials of State and Town came up with zero results. I find this hard to believe that not one member of the Town Council received any emails with prices or budgetary information regarding this topic? But, I guess I will have to accept that fact for now. I’ll just have to change the scope of my search. Somewhere in the bowls of the town’s offices some document[s] somewhere has[have] to exist that outline[s] this project and its budget. But, this is ultimately the problem with projects that are kept top-secret from the community they breed distrust by the people in town. Why is a dog park treated as if it is a national security issue is still a puzzle to me. Shouldn’t the process be open to the community? Shouldn’t the Community be able to know the costs of this project? One would think in a democracy that one would be able to easily secure the budget for such a public project as a Dog Park?

Portion of a letter sent to Supervisor date unknown. Part of a FOIL packet.

A resident of the Hamlet of Maplecrest ( part of the town of Windham) wrote this letter to our supervisor—date unknown—it seems to be part of an email. In the correspondence it talks about “A Team of Local of Local Builders” as being part of the project— I am not sure what they intended to build exactly? The original proposal is for a fenced in area , park benches, and a few dog friendly exercise toys? I’m fairly certain that nothing greater than that is intended for the dog park? So, what exactly were they building is unclear? Perhaps the fence? But, in the end that contract went to a company in Wappingerfalls, NY and not even a local company. Why weren’t local people employed is my big question? Who decided that? Why wasn’t this project put out to public bid?

The fact that the project planners chose to not do any site work prior to the placement of the chain link fence makes the fence follow contours of the ground that are jarring aesthetically speaking. At one point in the rear there is a post that stands up 8 inches taller than adjacent piece of fencing. A modicum of site prep would have allowed for a better finished result. It wouldn’t have looked as it does now as a hurried project that was thrown together. Everything about this project screams half-hearted and rushed— from the fence installers to now the holes in the ground that have old log benches thrown over them as covers. Nothing about this park in the plans to the Planning Board seems like they were followed on the construction site. So, you can understand why anyone might question the transparency of our local government in this process?

Locations for the park itself changed at least three times between the planning board meetings and construction : first it was located off in a corner by a steep hill and RT23; then offset in the first turn of the path way as you walk out of the RT 23 parking lot and head east on the path; and finally a location close, but not exactly where it is now since a large mound wasn’t supposed to be enclosed in the fence but, now is. . And yet, we’re told repeatedly that the process is transparent and forthright. Sure no one has a budget for the project, but everything is transparent. It’s not clear why this project requires this much secrecy or why our town board would treat this process as such a sensitive matter— but it has!

What we’ve heard from our Town Supervisor repeatedly is that the people ( perhaps, Joe Gorberg) who have spearheaded this project researched this project and brought evidence that a dog park is the best option for the Town. The only problem is most experts in the animal behaviorist world are pushing to not build dog parks unless you absolutely have to. Experts cite increased aggression in dog parks, due to the confined spaces. The NYT did an article in 2020 where they sited that most dog parks are about the humans and not the dogs. The question becomes what are better alternatives to dog parks when you’re in a park like the Path? The answer does seems to be walking the dog! In fact the same 2020 NYT article suggests the following: “As much as humans enjoy the chance to socialize with other like-minded animal lovers while our dogs play, it’s far safer and more fun for your dog to skip the dog park and spend that time engaging intentionally with you and their surroundings by going on walks, taking a training or general obedience class or even trying a new sport together.” It would seem that a good leash on your dog at the Windham Path and a long 2.5 mile walk around park will do far more exercise than the dog park will ever give them.

And this brings us back to our question who exactly wanted this Dog Park? That is unclear? And more importantly why is this Dog Park going to be foisted on the general public for years to come with minimal value in utility to the community as a whole and possible even less to the subset of the community that own dogs? At the rate this project is proceeding it seems it will take as long as Cathedral building did in the late medieval period— and who knows if the GoFundMe will be successful in raising the $35,000 during this protracted period of time?

What happens if the Go Fund Me fails? Who gets the bill if that happens? And who is going to maintain this park? In one letter it says fundraising will do it? In the 2023 proposal to the Planning Board no mention is made of maintenance costs and who’s responsible for them? So, which is it, I want to know fundraising drives or the Town?

Personally, I think parks are important enough that towns should want to fund them using town money or using state and federal grant money when necessary. I think state and federal money simplifies the number of strings attached to the process with monied interested. I also believe that the public should be completely engaged in the process from the start with open and honest discussions about the need any park will fill. This is where a citizens committee is great to handle all this work of doing public fact finding missions and holding town halls. None were done in this case and we should be asking why the town board continually refuses to follow its own 2022 Comprehensive Plan’s policy statement of creating committees to explore recreational usage of land?

But again who’s picking the poop up? Who’s ensuring that dog owners aren’t leaving their dogs in the park to socialize on the side lines? Who is going to be responsible if a dog is injured in the park? Or worse yet, what if a dog owner is attacked while trying to defend their own animal? All good questions, I fear were never really asked by our town board or answered by the mysterious group of people who wanted to his dog park.

Update From The Go-Fund Me Campaign.

As it stands we have no time line for the completion of the rest of this Dog Park. We have no clear idea exactly what amenities will materialize or what landscaping it will have in the end. In fact the only insurances we have is that it will be “aesthetically pleasing”— well, I guess these mounds have charm…

Perhaps, we should just scrap this idea and build “Freedom Park”— no one has died or been injured from a well secured Republic F-105 displayed on a level concrete pad! No dogs were ever harmed by one either! See both human and dog friendly — not to mention a Proud Product Of New York State! So , I ask don’t you want a symbol of American Air Power and Freedom in our Town? If not, is it because I detect a shade of Pink in your ideology?

Seriously, the Dog Park might be here to stay in Windham’s Path— but it is a cautionary tale of how important it is to create transparent policies for the use of governmental funds even at the local level. This is partly why I am running for Town Supervisor in 2025. I feel that we need to move in a more egalitarian and democratic way. Let’s Create The New Windham together.

[Edited for clarity and factuality on who was responsible for actually digging the holes in the Windham Path. ]