San Marino definitely doesn't want a dog park

An Eagle Scout in San Marino had an idea: Why not devote a part of Lacy Park for the city's many dogs? Seems simple but it wasn't. More from the Star-News' Caroline An:

All Derek Barker wanted for Christmas was a dog park in the city, a friendly place where pets and owners could go to play. But instead, San Marino officials delivered a lump of coal, rejecting Barker's request to build a dog park within Lacy Park -- and dashing the teenager's goal of completing his Eagle Scout project. Barker, 16, who attends San Marino High School, said he was disappointed when the City Council voted 3-1 Dec. 10 to turn down his dog park project, after supporters and opponents pleaded their case. In the end, residents' concerns about noise, odor and traffic derailed the proposal, which would have converted a 14,000-square-foot area at the west end of Lacy Park that currently is used by the park's maintenance operations.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[marge]

I don't understand why the young man shouldn't get his badge for community service anyway. He successfully did everything he could through channels to get a dog park in San Marino. Just because the city's answer was "no", it does not mean that he failed. Sometimes we do things that are important and what we want to happen does not. But it doesn't mean that our efforts were not legitimate and effective as far as they went. In fact what this young man did accomplish was to find out how much San Marino WANTS a dog park which I guess is not at all.

Kudos to Derek Barker and good luck with your badge!