Letter: Jamaica Plain dog parks

If we are to have more dog parks in Jamaica Plain, the community needs to make it happen. The drive and impetus needs to come from the people, as the City and the State won’t make it happen without this effort, especially when budgets continue to be cut.

The Southwest Corridor Park is a state park, owned by the MBTA and managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The park has a long and well-known tradition of community action, continuing in a monthly advisory meeting for the park, the Southwest Corridor Park’s Parkland Management Advisory Committee.  Our meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month rotating between three locations.  The next meeting in JP is on November 2nd at 7pm at the E13 Police Station 3347 Washington St. (http://www.swcpc.org/pmac).

Our park advisory committee has a tradition of neighborhood involvement in the park.  Previously the committee has helped with the creation of a dog park in the South End part of the park.  Recently, we have been working with a group of skateboarders to turn the street hockey rink at Minton Street into a permanent professionally built skate park.  And it has supported the work I do with a group of volunteers to grow flowers, fruit, herbs, and vegetables in the park near Stony Brook T Station, free for all to enjoy.

There are at least four places dog parks could be built, but people from the dog owning or dog walking community needs to organize the effort, canvas the closest neighbors for their input, develop proposals, and secure funding from the state and from grants to get the parks built and maintained.  I know we have a lot of people in JP with the talent and experience in community organizing and urban planning that could do this work.  You can contact Nina Robinson at [email protected] to get organized, and the park advisory committee is a forum for you to meet with DCR and start the process.

Jenny Jones

Jamaica Plain resident

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *