THE BELL CURVE
Joseph N. Bell
Let’s dispose of the bias up front. Patt Bell is my daughter. She is
also a longtime member of the Costa Mesa Bark Park Volunteer Committee
and was quoted at some length in the Pilot a couple of weeks ago with
regard to a city-proposed renovation of the park that would replace grass
with wood chips.
Since my daughter and I communicate fairly regularly, I have been
aware of the Bark Park’s frequent difficulties over the years in pleasing
both city officials and the several hundred local dog owners who use the
park weekly. I have been sorely tempted to write about these problems
several times but backed off at my daughter’s request. She would still
prefer I keep out of it, but this wood chip caper is too good to ignore.
For those of you who haven’t followed the story in the Pilot, quick
briefing. The Costa Mesa Bark Park, now going into its fifth year, has
been fiercely independent about meeting its own financial needs. The city
services it like any other municipal park. The special needs to
accommodate dogs and their owners have been met through some highly
creative Bark Park fund-raisers. The sole exception has been a fence the
city erected around the park to replace one that was falling apart.
But this year, serious renovations were required. The biggest problem
was the sprinkler system which was archaic and mostly dysfunctional
because of broken and leaking sprinkler heads, many buried beneath dirt
and debris. The visible grass at the Bark Park is a precise indicator of
where the sprinklers are still functioning.
So Bark Park members created a thorough renovation plan that included
a new sprinkler system and replanting of grass, among other improvements,
then set out to devise means of raising the money to make it happen. All
that changed when a member of the Costa Mesa City Council attended a
fund-raiser last November and decided firmly that this was a project the
city should take on. When the Council voted $150,000 to renovate the Bark
Park, the members abandoned their fund-raisers to work with the city on
the renovation.
Ideas were being exchanged congenially until the wood chips were
placed on the table -- or rather underfoot as a ground cover in place of
grass. Reaction of the dog owners to frolicking in wood chips was
immediate, angry and virtually unanimous. They hated the idea. But just
to make sure, the Bark Park distributed a remarkably objective survey. Of
the 285 survey forms returned, 280 were adamantly opposed to wood chips.
Local citizens rendered the same verdict last week when the city held
an open house to get public reaction to three proposed new designs for
the Bark Park. Although the ground cover wasn’t supposed to be an issue,
of the 128 people who filled out reaction forms, “about 99%t” -- said
Donna Theriault, city of Costa Mesa management analyst -- emphatically
stressed a preference for grass.
Meanwhile, the Bark Park committee did some extensive research and
discovered that a review of biomedical literature concludes that regular
exposure to wood chips can cause respiratory disease and asthma in humans
and -- according to an epidemiology study at the U. of North Carolina --
“is likely to be even more pronounced on small mammals ... in close
contact with wood chips.”
Further research discovered that of 50 municipal Bark Parks in
California, only three have used wood chips; one combined them with grass
and another rakes them up after the winter rain. The third is in
Huntington Beach, where wood chips are being showcased. So I went over to
have a look for myself. I didn’t take my trusty dachshund, Coco, for two
reasons. She is antisocial with other dogs and tends to hang around our
legs. And she is also a decidedly “small mammal.”
The day I visited, there were a half-dozen large dogs racing around
raising dust in the piles of chips, but the terrain was like mush
underfoot -- difficult for my gimpy knee -- and would clearly be
inhospitable to both disabled owners and dogs. Wheelchairs would have
tough going here -- and they are both welcomed and present at the Costa
Mesa Bark Park. It occurred to me that Coco might get lost under the
chips, but that had apparently also occurred to the Huntington Beach
people who had provided a separate area with fewer chips for little dogs.
If Coco was socially well-adjusted and wanted to hang out at our
friendly neighborhood Costa Mesa Bark Park, I’d raise hell about wood
chips, too. It seems like a no-brainer. The people who use the park are
universally and emphatically opposed to wood chips. They have come up
with a whole litany of thoughtful and specific reasons for rejecting
chips.
Yet, Donna Theriault says that the city staff -- which will report to
the City Council on this matter -- hasn’t yet decided on whether or not
to recommend a surface. The reason appears to be purely economic. The
city can get the wood chips free. Grass and sprinklers come a little
higher.
Given the way this matter evolved, it would be the worst decision
since the Angels traded Nolan Ryan if the local dog owners who have
creatively and firmly paid their own way -- and were prepared to do it in
this instance, too -- are force-fed a wood chip Bark Park they strongly
oppose.
JOSEPH N. BELL is a Santa Ana Heights resident. His column runs
Thursdays.
QUESTION
Bag the chips?
What do you think about replacing grass at the Costa Mesa Bark Park with
wood chips? Call our Readers Hotline at (949) 642-6086 or send e-mail to
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