Old Dogs, Old Tricks

During the Oct. 3 council meeting, City Hall played the same old trick on the dog park supporters.

Led by Councilwoman Trish Kelley, the council avoided funding the $1.1-million dog park with carryover funds. The chosen site was thrown under the bus as well after a public comment about slope slippage. Councilman Dave Leckness acted as if the instability of the slope is breaking news. Mission Viejo Co. employees have said for more than 40 years that no homes were planned in the vicinity (east of Felipe between La Paz and Oso) because the ground is unstable. Geological maps show the area, particularly the gully below, is prone to liquefaction.

City Hall has again eluded those wanting a dog park.

Until dog park supporters wake up and smell the coffee, City Hall can continue this game. City employees have job security and a license to burn tax dollars in their perpetual search for a site “in response to public demand.” After 15 years and a search throughout Mission Viejo, City Hall has alternated between saying no place in town is suitable or proposing untenable and/or prohibitively expensive choices. During a previous snafu, the council decreed that a dog park should not be built near a park, school or homes. They next approved a site in a park near a school and adjacent to homes (Oso Park). The neighbors immediately filed a lawsuit, ending the process.

How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have been wasted in City Hall’s effort to avoid building a dog park? Then-city employee Rick Howard began an exhaustive site search in 2003 while he was still on the payroll without a real job. Howard had completed the construction of City Hall as project manager. To appear busy, he began touring the city for a dog park site, photographing all the parks. He presented slide shows during council meetings and wasted staff time as well. The Community Services Commission took up the dog park crusade in 2007. City Hall burned through another pile of money on the Oso Park fiasco, plus legal fees to stop the lawsuit. The staff completed environmental studies for its most recent not-a-dog-park site on Felipe. Does anyone want to add all this up?

The best solution to date has been offered by city watchdogs who point to Barbadanes Park as a logical and relatively inexpensive site for a dog park. The obstacle is and always has been that City Hall administrators don’t want a dog park anywhere in Mission Viejo.