Public meeting concerning Baird Park has been assessed for itssuitability for dogs’ off-leash activities

Baird Park dogs
Review the proposed area Receive comments/input from the public • Discuss next steps

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Indian Rd. Crescent Junior PS 285 Indian Rd.

Crescent General Purpose Room

If ASL Interpreting or Attendant Care Services are required, please contact Aydin Sarrafzadeh at (416) 392-0582 or asarraf@toronto.ca on or prior to October 30th, 2009. For further information, please contact: Park Supervisor: Peter Leiss • Phone: (416) 392-7945
Please leave your dog at home


31 Comments

I certainly hope the suitable area in the south east corner behind the lawn bowling building. It would be a shame if the area is close too Keele, that is the only area suitable to kick a soccer ball around or play catch. Lets hope they put up a fence around the area to keep all the kids safe from getting mauled by your “harmless” animals.

Fenced in or not, the problem of less-than-careful child-owners exists and should be dealt with as a completely separate issue.

What an absurd statement, there are no leash laws for kids, when was the last time you heard of a child mauling a dog. The less than careful parents would have less to worry about if dogs were kept on leashes!

The level of absurdity is consistent with the initial comment. To tone it back a little: A fence around a group of responsible dog-owners and well behaved dogs is a fine suggestion but will have zero affect on keeping "all the kids safe from getting mauled by [the] 'harmless' animals." It's the unlicensed and poorly-behaved dogs that you have to worry about and their irresponsible owners will have zero interest in going out of their way to an off-leash dog park.

They put a fence around the children's play structure, the least they can do in fence in the dogs as well. After all they are dogs!

Dog owner never cease to amaze me with their attitudes, "their" dogs are fine it's always the "other guys" dogs to who maul people. I got bit by a family pet who got spooked. Dogs are unpredictable no matter how well behaved you feel they are. Now imagine having your dog bite a child, do you think the parents want to hear "my dog has never done anything like that before"?

At the West Bend Community Association, our understanding of the proposal (as presented to us some months ago by the residents who are sponsoring it) is that it is a "time of day" off-leash plan. In other words, there will not be a specific area permanently allocated for dogs off-leash but at certain hours dogs will be allowed off-leash in the park. These hours are designed to minimize conflict with other users – for example, while young kids are not out playing soccer late at night, dog owners often walk their dogs before bedtime. One of the benefits of this strategy is that it also creates "eyes in the park" at off-hours and enhances park safety. The fenced playground area goes some way to ensuring that the sand remains clean (so remember to close the gates …).

CORRECTION – I received a call back from Perks' office this morning. Apparently, the "time-of-day" proposal was changed to a permanent fenced off-leash area without our being aware of the change. I am trying to find out why (could have been at the insistence of the Parks people but I don't know). I suspect this will be a big problem as Baird already has two fenced areas (for lawn bowling and for the playground equipment). The expensive fence around the playground equipment was installed to separate dog and kids, so an off-leash area may be just one fence too many!

Dust clouds will bellow where the grass once grew, more poo left on ground from owners who can't find it in the dark, hoards more dog barking in a small residential park surrounded by houses and only 7 minutes from High Park and it's off leash area. Who thought this was a good idea?

I just saw a dog run over by a TTC bus outside of Baird Park on Keele St. . This is the second time I've seen an unleashed dog killed by Keele St. traffic outside of this park.

Keele Street is busy and dangerous. If the community is to let their dogs off-leash in Baird Park, the fencing must be improved.

My name is Caitlin and I am a fourth-year journalism student at Ryerson.

I am currently working on a piece about dog-ownership in the city and the burdens/benefits for all involved.

You're pro-park views are exactly what my story needs and I am hoping someone will be available for an interview?

Please email if you are interested in having your opinions heard.

Thank you,

Caitlin
clow@ryerson.ca

"Over the past few weeks, Parks, Forestry and Recreation has received considerable feedback in regard to the off-leash area designation at Baird Park. As such, staff are holding a second public meeting to provide opportunity for residents to voice concerns in an effort to reach a reasonable compromise for all park users."

A mailing was supposed to have gone out to local residents about the first meeting BUT I live on the street and no one I spoke to got one. Since we did not get a chance to voice our opinion at the first one they are now going to hold another. If you have any concerns please come along!

This public meeting will be held on July 13, 2010 at Annette Community Recreation Centre (333 Annette Street) from 7pm to 9pm.

Anyone know what's going on in Baird Park? Are those posts they are erecting have anything to do with a leash free area? I certainly hope not, it's the only decent place to play soccer, or catch.

So it looks like there is going to be a leash free zone at Baird Park unless we can band together and stop this idiocy.

Come out on the 13th and let the local Politicians know that WE DON'T WANT THIS IN OUR PARK.

Kids need to be kept safe from unleashed Dogs, it's just a mater of time before a dog mauls someone's child.

If this is going through then we won't venture much there.

What really gets my goat even more is the audacity of some people who let their dogs play in the kids playground at Vine Park and Malta Park. Only the other week, there was someone with a kid and a dog at Malta Park and the dog was running around and did a poo there and then, then I had a moan and said that he shouldn't have the dog off a leash. There are enough signs for people to know the rules.

Is any one aware of a contact for the group responsible for organizing the proposal for this dog park in the first place? The city always requires a forma dog owners association to be formed in order to proceed with a dog park application.

A victory for the NeoNazis in the area who think they own the Parks. What i see in the Park is the nice kids in the neighbourhood smoking weed or doing other types of drugs. Just a great park for the kids.

Well it is now going ahead as we speak on the east treed side despite area residents objectives… I wonder whether is was Counselor Perks or the Parks dept that got the backhander because they are "committed to the dog park going in" and have been from the start regardless of the HUGE outcry.

I saw those yesterday and thought there was no was those new fences could be used as off leash area because the way it's being built. The fence leaves a 2 foot gap at the bottom that will not keep dogs smaller that Great Danes inside. Another poorly thought out plan by the city. At least the spot in which it's going in leaves the best spot for kids to play soccer, catch or anything else that requires a large flat area.

Can you believe the pro dog park people have not given up the West side of the park idea? Even though the local school has now officially permitted the park for events such as Race Day (the whole school used the field) some dog owners are using an arborist report to say the fencing and dogs will damage the trees so the fenced in area needs to be moved. Easiest and cheapest solution? GET RID OF THE DOG PARK ALL TOGETHER!!!

Baird Park is for EVERYONE… for the whole community to enjoy, and people with dogs responsibly and respectfully share the space with you! Please stop your NIMBY comments. In my experience people enjoy this space, smile at each other in this space, and look out for each other in this space. Please consider working with your peers in the community instead of ghettoizing them.

In you opinion people enjoy that space. You mean dog owners enjoy that space. Not everyone wanted it there in the first place so I could easily state that in my experience people are upset with this space. You opinion isn't any more valid than mine, they're just different. And what exactly does "Please consider working with your peers in the community instead of ghettoizing them" mean? If you dog owners would have worked with your peers we could have prevented the dog park from going in.

"You dog owners"?

That's exactly the kind of comment that negatively ghettoizes a significant part of our community. The whole community was invited to participate in the above stated public meeting. The city – thoughtfully and carefully – determined that an off leash area in Baird park was a good idea for the community. That it met the needs of the community. People with dogs responsibly and respectfully share this space with you. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

"negatively ghettoizes"?

I highly doubt that anyone, dog owner or not, thinks that dog owners being referred to at dog owners implies that you're at all ghetto. Need I remind you that the city planner, that you feel thought this through carefully, started this process over 2 years ago and the majority of the community had the off leash area blocked, not once but twice. Even after the oh so well thought out city planners began putting up a fence in the wrong spot only to have to take it down at the tax payers expense. The city responded to a request from local dog owners to determine if the off leash park is suitable, the problem with this is that the majority off people don't write to city officials when they are happy, only when they want something. Now that it is there it will never be taken down, because it will cost too much to remove, no one ever seems to say it will cost to much to put up. The reasons for wanting a dog park he is simply due to the fact that you didn't want to walk to High Park and use the one that is already there. It seem to me that dog owners that are too lazy to walk there dogs to a park a little farther away so they can get exercise are in fact the definition of Ghetto.

Now you say dog owners are lazy? Please stop!

"ghettoize" means to set apart and isolate, and my point is we are all a part of this dynamic, animated, wonderful community! Look, point is Baird Park is for EVERYONE… for the whole community to enjoy, and people with dogs responsibly and respectfully share the space with you!

I'm calling you lazy not all dog owners. A 2 km walk to High park and you have all the space you need. People with dogs have insisted on creating an area that is set apart and isolated, or as you've pointed out "ghettoized". Baird Park is for everyone, except the fenced in dog area witch is now an area that people without dogs are not allowed to enjoy. Let this go Karen you'll never understand that dog ownership is a choice, not a right.

Baird park has a fenced in lawn bowling club, a fenced in children's playground, and now a fenced in off leash dog run. All of those areas are set apart but none of them are exclusive! Owning a dog, having children, and lawn bowling are all choices and – as you say – not a right. But many in the community have made those choices and Baird Park reflects our mostly friendly corner of the city well.

Baird Park is public property and for the whole community. Everyone responsibly and respectfully shares this space. If you don't like Baird Park anymore then consider taking your own advice and walking 500 meters to Lithuania Park instead.

For those think it is a great idea …could people make an application to built a skate park right where you live plus a night club, a strip joint and so forth without proper due process? People actually drive to Baird park and park anywhere on the East, West side of Baird and at times by the nearest public school. When some dog owners can't go to Baird dola after hours they actually go to Indian Road Cres. and at times Lithuania Park. Actually it is not true that everyone respects the area especially those who don't live there. People have actually called the police, AS etc., there have been recent dog fights lately, and many treat Baird like a free "Starbuck's" chat area so they chat vs watching or exercising their dogs. I do wonder what would happen if Lithuania Park were subjected to this as there are dogs off leash there too. Such enclosures do not stop some dog owners from letting their dogs go anywhere else in the park such as in the playground, wading pool and a few actually went into the lawn bowling area. Pretty soon people opposed to the dola pliot project from Parks, Recreation and Forestry will get sick and tired of how poorly run and enforced they are at the very least. This is not a New York experience project of some sort ;and if budget cuts were to be made why not stop funding this dola city project instead of privatizing Animal Services, getting rid of High Park zoo and so forth. There are reputable dog trainers and breeders who would say this is not the best for the dogs. There are dog owners who would not go into such enclosures in a small residential park because they really care about their dogs, understand their needs and make more of an effort to train them than the smaller dola users.

Rodger:
When local residents lamented the loss of "an iconic community building" on the old McBrides bike site, commenting that "Some redundant business that has no place in a historic Victorian commercial and residential area doesn’t seem like the right direction.'" your response was:

Rodger says
Agreed as well but it’s gone stop living in the past, time to move on.

Perhaps you should take your own advice on the Baird Park DOLA issue. Just saying.

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