Off Leash Hours at Jonathan Rogers Park

The aim of this petition is show the City of Vancouver Parks Board that there exists a community desire to incorporate into the current status of the Jonathan Rogers Park at 7th and Columbia off leash hours at certain times of the day.  The first phase is to get as many names as possible to sign the petition to show the level of interest, then support this petition with statistics about the park's (non) use and details and ideas of how the dog walkers and other park users can happily co-exist. 

The plan is to present to the council the findings of a two week survey of the park which occurred from the 6th to 17th October, showing that there are 5 user groups of the park. But overall use of the area is minimal.

MAJOR USERS. A regular presence throughout the day or in large numbers.

Fair Weather Users (Bench users / Lunchtimers / Sunbathers)

Dog Walkers    

School / After School Groups

MINOR USERS. Sometimes no presence at all in a day.

Exercisers (Jogging/Yoga/Golf)

Playground

Ideally and at the very least, there would be summer and winter off leash hours, summer hours being before 9am and after 5pm and winter hours less restrictive to allow dogs to be exercised and cleaned up after in daylight and when the park is empty.  These hours will not interfere with the school use and fair weather/lunchtime crowd.  The other major user - the after school group - could potentially be an issue, but as the past weeks have shown, the space at Jonathan Rogers Park is sufficient that responsible off leash dog users and the after school groups can coexist happily. 

Update from November 2008.  Since this date there has been one after hour group, on a Friday evening for 1.5hrs.

The other two user groups, the exercisers and the playground users are so seldom in their visits they are barely worth a mention.  There is however the possible issue of dogs in the childrens play area, if this is an issue from the Board perspective this could be the only area of spend that may be required.  To fence in the childrens play area would keep dogs out and would likely be a deterrent to the drug users also.

A consistent presence 3 or 4 times throughout the day, come rain or shine, must certainly help reduce the amount of park drug use from becoming ever more present.

Dogs can regularly socialise in a predefined and consistently reinforced pack hierarchy, meaning less fights and very well socialised animals.

Regular off leash times will create times when several dogs can get a good run of exercise together - a tired dog is a good dog.

More people exercising their dogs together will mean many sets of eyes looking out for them and their poops and making it socially unacceptable not to clear up after their animal.  Also, there will always be a spare poop bag available if needed.

In a town where space is at a premium, regular use of a park in any legitimate form must be a benefit to ensure its survival.

Carbon Footprint.  Jonathan Rogers Park is at the centre of a number of off leash areas, the closest of which is a 25minute walk away.  On a number of occasions the City of Vancouver Animal Control have suggested that we use Charleston Park instead but due to the distance this would make walking dogs at lunchtime almost impossible.  We have instead been encouraged to drive to this facility!  From an environmental perspective, a 2km drive there and back, 3 times a day, every day of the year in city traffic even in a relatively efficient vehicle equals approx. 1.40 tonnes of carbon per year per dog walker.

Removal of broken glass and other sharp objects that could cut a dogs foot is of benefit to children also.

Please sign this petition and let the City of Vancouver Parks Board know your thoughts.