[Summit] Fwd: Important News for Providence Dog Owners!

[Coryndon Luxmoore]

FYI to all the dog owners around the city. --C

>> From: Plaid & Stripe PetShop <robin at plaidandstripe.com>
>> Date: April 21, 2011 5:55:18 PM EDT
>> To: jennifer at eatwicked.com
>> Subject: Important News for Providence Dog Owners!
>> Reply-To: robin at plaidandstripe.com
>> 
>> Having trouble viewing this email? Click here
>> Plaid&StripePetShop
>> April 21, 2011
>> Dear Friend of Dogs (and of Plaid & Stripe)
>> 
>> Within the last week, the Providence City Council has unanimously passed sweeping revisions to the ordinance  governing dogs within the city limits.  Because the proposed revisions were passed without review or participation by Providence voters and so regressive in nature that Mayor Angel Taveras returned it to the council with his veto and asked that them develop a series of public forums where the proposed changes could be introduced and discussed openly.
>> 
>> Instead of complying with the Mayor's sensible proposal, I now understand that the council is seeking to override the Mayor's veto which would make the new proposals law.  PLEASE read the following letter I sent to the President of the CIty Council and each member of that organization.
>> 
>> If after reading the letter, you are in agreement with me and if you truly love dogs and are concerned about their treatment and future in Providence, please contact the city council president Michael A. Solomon IMMEDIATELY at
>> ward5 at providenceRI.com
>> and register your specific problems with nature of the proposed ordinance changes and the way the vote took place, without public comment and behind the closed doors of the council.
>> 
>> We need your help to defeat this legislation and we need it TODAY!
>> 
>> Thanks
>> 
>> Robin Bugbee, Plaid & Stripe PetShop
>>  
>> Mr. Michael A. Solomon
>> City Council President
>> City of Providence
>> 25 Dorrance Street
>> Providence, Rhode Island 02903
>>  
>>  
>> Dear Council President Solomon:
>>  
>> It has come to my attention that the Providence City Council recently passed an amendment to the Code of Ordinances entitled "Animals and Fowl" and the section related to "Parks and Recreation" that would initiate sweeping changes in the ordinances governing dogs within the city limits.
>>  
>> Specifically, the amendment would change the decades long prohibition of dogs in all city parks and allow the Board of Parks Commissioners to determine which park facilities (and during what hours) would be opened to dog owners for the walking and exercising of their dogs.  This is a very good thing.  But the total impact of the changes that the Council has supported are so regressive and negative in nature that Mayor Taveras returned the legislation back to you with his veto this week.  I am now to understand you and the council are attempting to overturn his veto.  I urge you not to do so. This revised ordinance is seriously flawed because:
>>  
>> 1.            It would require all city residents who wish to use the parks to apply for a second license and pay a fee of $25.00.  Dog owners are already required to secure a license for each dog they own and pay a $5 fee and the city has made it so difficult to secure a license and has ignored the need to enforce the regulation that only about 10 to 15% of the dogs in Providence are currently licensed. Rather than burden dog owners with the need to get a second license it would seem to make far more sense to simply limit the use of the parks to registered dogs, to raise the dog registration fee to $15 and to take the responsibility to enforce the existing registration ordinance.
>>  
>> 2.            It would prevent people from walking more than three dogs at the same time. This would certainly threaten the business of the many professional dog walkers that working city residents depend on to take care of their dogs when they are not home. By instituting this change the council would put both dog owners and the crucial income to dog walkers at risk. In this very poor economy.
>>  
>> 3.            It would prevent dogs either on lead or off lead from entrance to any "conservation area" this is clearly aimed at the hundreds of people walking dogs in Blackstone Park on the East Side which is one of the only "conservations areas designated in the city. The city has held public meetings and forums on this 
>> specific issue where the dog owning community has come out in force to voice their anger and frustration at those factions within city government who are seeking to remove them from the park.  Even if this proposal made sense, (and I do not think it does), it will be virtually impossible to enforce unless the city is willing to put a full time patrol in the park. If it is enforced the dogs and their owners will move to the athletic field in back of Brown stadium which is likely to cause the University to evict all of the dogs and their owners certainly causing them to return to Blackstone 
>> Park, the only decent facility available to them to exercise their dogs on the East Side. 
>>  
>>  
>> For over three years those of us with professional and personal concerns for the thousands of dogs and their owners living in Providence have worked with the city to try to change it's policy on dogs and to get the city to take its rightful responsibility to provide exercise and relaxation facilities for them. It has been a very difficult battle. I, along with others, have drafted proposed legislative changes, testified in support of these changes in front of City Council committees and met with the Superintendent of Parks, Robert  McMahon to try to find reasonable responses to the many problems that exist..
>>  
>> In point of fact, in a meeting with Mr. McMahon and several others in his office last year, Mr. McMahon noted the problem with Blackstone Park, offered several alternative dog park ideas and agreed that no change should be made eliminating dogs from the park until an area could be provided on the East Side for the free exercise of dogs  to replace the facility that would be lost.  The dog owning community is still waiting for the results of a poll the city took at the last forum at the Roger WIlliams Casino and the promised response from Mr McMahon to the many issues and concerns that were raised that evening.
>>  
>> I am saddened that after all of the work that has gone into this issue, the rights and concerns of the thousands of dogs and their owners in Providence have been so easily dismissed by the city council, without consultation, without public hearings and without due concern for the wishes of a very large number of concerned citizens.  I respectfully request that the city council comply with Mayor Taveras's sensible, and reasoned suggestion that public forums be held to review proposed dog ordinance changes before any further action is taken.
>>  
>>  
>> Sincerely:
>>  
>>  
>> Robin A.Bugbee
>> Owner
>> Plaid & Stripe Pet Shop
>>  
>> cc: Mayor Angel Taveras
>>       The Editor, Providence Journal
>>       Providence City Council - All Members 
>> 
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>>   	
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