To be frank and clear, that park is for kids and always has been. The people who advocate for a fenced dog park seem to value dogs over kids, and take photos of the park when it’s not being used (like the one here) – as if to imply that there’s no demand for a green space for children.
I’ve lived in Oakland for most of my life, going back to 1974. Over that time, there have been two constants: one is that the space called Astro Park has always been used by kids, and two, I’ve never seen an advocacy group for open space for kids as active and aggressive as this one for dogs.
That’s a shame. Oakland’s first priority should always be its children, yet we’ve shown little interest in having a comprehensive healthy city for our kids. Yes, we have a powerful education lobby, but that’s as much about maintaining jobs for adult teachers as it is helping kids get a good education – nothing wrong with that. But when it comes to specifically advocating for kids, Oakland has fallen short again and again.
We have to stop this.
The real answer is to make all of Lake Merritt’s existing green space available to dogs as long as they’re on a leach. That’s not unreasonable considering how crowded the Lake is. If a person wants a dog park, they should get to know neighbors who have backyards or take them up to Joaquin Miller Park, where there’s an off-leash dog area. But it is unreasonable not to be able to walk your dog on a leash along Lake Merritt.
That should change.
Stay tuned.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.