[Summit] Summit Digest, Vol 73, Issue 19

Fri Apr 22 17:56:44 UTC 2011

Interesting. I wonder, should it pass, what level of enforcement the city
would be willing to devote to this.

On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 1:00 PM, <summit-request at sna.providence.ri.us>wrote:

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>   1. Fwd: Important News for Providence Dog Owners! (Coryndon Luxmoore)
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>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:12:35 -0400
> From: Coryndon Luxmoore <coryndon at luxmoore.com>
> To: Summit Neighborhood <summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
> Subject: [Summit] Fwd: Important News for Providence Dog Owners!
> Message-ID: <464E0559-9D37-4A23-B90A-BA0CC3E58A88 at luxmoore.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> 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
> >> ?
> >> Forward email
> >>
> >> This email was sent to jennifer at eatwicked.com by
> robin at plaidandstripe.com |
> >> Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe? |
> Privacy Policy.
> >> Plaid & Stripe | 182 Wayland Avenue | Providence | RI | 02906
> >>
> >
>
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> End of Summit Digest, Vol 73, Issue 19
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-- 
thank you,
michael mcglynn
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