Hello fellow park users!
I know many of you are wondering how your Pooch Pass money is spent. SPACE has been working with Parks and Recreation to prioritize park needs and make sure that ALL pooch pass money goes back into the park! Last year, we purchased two bag dispensers and 10,000 bags. We will likely have to order another 20,000 to get through this year. We also tapped into the water main below the park and set up a water spigot in the park. The water is now on! The notice board was built with materials purchased by SPACE and all volunteer labor. We had some money left from last year which will be applied to this year’s park improvements. I’m excited to tell you that Elizabeth Fowler, a landscape architecture student, has designed a fabulous plan for the park. Her plan includes benches, boulders, an agility course, a gravel pathway, and much more! The SPACE Board is in the process of taking the plan before the Conservation Committee for approval and as soon as the approval comes through purchase orders will go out for materials and construction work. We’ll post the plan on the sign board and the website as soon as we can. If all goes as planned you should begin to see changes mid-summer.
Now that we have a concrete plan we can re-activate the engraved brick program for the entryway. This is a fundraiser for SPACE to allow us to improve our web site, pay for our mailbox and other operating expenses, and fund activities and supplies without having to work through the City’s process. In case you don’t know about the brick project I’ll explain. SPACE is taking orders for engraved bricks that will be installed in the entryway of the park. If we get enough orders we’d like to continue the bricks into the park right in front of the double gate. The bricks are $50 per brick and you can have them engraved with up to three lines of text with 20 characters per line. The bricks are beautiful once they’re done. To download the brick order form, click here: Brick Order Form - PDF. Just fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to SPACE to the address at the top of the form. For those of you who have already ordered bricks, we still have your orders and they will be filled as soon as we get enough orders to do the project. We need to install them all at once to ensure a smooth, level surface.
Please do get your 2009 Pooch Passes! The City of Salem allowed construction of the dog park with the understanding that it must be self-sufficient. In order to fund the improvements for this year, we need people to purchase the same number of passes as last year. Passes are required by law, but they also ensure that dogs in the park are safe with respect to rabies and spay/neuter status. The Animal Control Officer will be checking from time to time. For your convenience, passes will now be on sale at The Barking Cat on Essex Street in Salem, and at All Creatures Veterinary Hospital across the river from the dog park, as well as at the Parks and Recreation/Council on Aging at 5 Broad St., Salem. A map and hours for each location will be posted on the notice board - now you can get your passes on the weekend!
Some of you have asked about having a clean-up day. We’ve scheduled a clean-up day for May 16 from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM. During that time the park will be closed to dogs for safety reasons. SPACE members will bring all of the supplies so if you’d like to help just show up. The park has been looking pretty rough lately as far as people not picking up after their dogs. Hopefully if we do a really good clean-up coupled with the fact that bags are readily available right at the park people will feel more compelled to clean up after their dogs. Also on that date we will be selling Pooch Passes in the park. Passes need to be renewed by May 31, 2009 so bring your paperwork and check made out to the City of Salem to the park that morning and get your pass. The rain date will be May 30.
So, be on the lookout for some great improvements! Keep checking the signboard at the park for updates and important announcements. Also take a look at our website salemspace.org.
See you at the park!
Michele
IMPORTANT DATES:
May 16, 2009 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Park Clean-up and Pooch Pass sale (rain date May 30, 2009).
May 31, 2009 Deadline for renewing your Pooch Pass before fines start being issued.
Posted: May 19th, 2009 under News.
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