LETTER OF THE WEEK

I was a little puzzled by Canine Lexie I’s letter in the Community Forum

section of Thursday’s Daily Pilot (“Barking for equal rights,” Sept. 30).

Although this dog’s heart is clearly in the right place in pleading for

more and better parks, labeling Costa Mesa -- a city that has provided a

recreational area used by canines from all over Orange County for years

-- as discriminatory toward dogs seems like a misplaced case of “biting

the hand that feeds you.”

When the Costa Mesa Bark Park opened in 1994, it was only the second dog

park in Orange County. The idea of setting aside an area for dog owners

to exercise their pets off-leash was proposed by a member of the city

staff, and the Costa Mesa City Council showed enormous foresight and

courage by approving it five years ago, when such canine recreational

areas were still an unknown quantity. Now, Costa Mesa is about to make

“doggie” history in Orange County by opening a second, much larger, dog

park -- approved by the City Council and placed on the master plan last

year -- in Fairview Park. Obviously, the city of Costa Mesa is anything

but “unfriendly to the pooches.”

Lexie I’s anger at the City Council may have resulted from confusion over

the meaning of all the posters and fliers in Bark Park these days -- or

some bad information picked up around the park fire hydrant. Although

Bark Park always has been self-supporting, the City Council did recently

allocate a generous sum of money ($150,000, not $250,000) for renovations

and there is currently a “spirited” disagreement between the park users

and the city staff as to how it should be spent.

But nothing has been decided yet (the cement pad Lexie I refers to has

been in the park for four years) and the dispute is working its way,

democratically, through the proper procedures and channels. Undoubtedly,

when the matter is presented before the City Council this month, the

welfare and enjoyment of the humans and dogs who use the park will be the

major consideration, as it always has been in the past.

In the meantime, some advice for all you cities out there without dog

parks: Build one with grass, or dirt, or chips or weeds -- whatever your

dog owners want and your circumstances and finances dictate. Just Build

One! You won’t be sorry.

PATT BELL

Costa Mesa