somerville dog: a weblog

I received an e-mail today from someone who is interested in an off-leash recreational area in Paul Revere Park in Charlestown. A google search found this article in the The Charlestown Bridge from June 15, 2006:

Dog run proposed for Paul Revere Park by Dan Murphy

The Charlestown Mothers Association recently proposed an enclosed dog run for Paul Revere Park, which would allow children and pet owners to harmoniously coexist in the space.

“I understand the need to let a dog run off the leash, and no law is going to stop it,” said Melissa McGaughey, a CMA member and dog owner. “Dogs aren’t going anywhere, so let’s find a solution that works for every body.

McGaughey and Ken Stone, president of the Friends of City Square Park, drafted a petition to build a gated, fenced-in dog run near the retaining wall at the park. They plan to submit the petition to the Department of Conversation and Recreation, which has jurisdiction over the park, once they have obtained enough signatures in support of the project.

The need for a dog run in Charlestown is now greater than ever, said McGaughey, since the Monument is presently not available to dog owners because of ongoing renovations. And dog runs are becoming more commonplace in and around Boston: Somerville and the South End both have dog runs, she said.

While some insist that dog owners sometimes neglect to pick up after their pets and free-roaming dogs can prove to be a nuisance for families hoping to enjoy a picnic at the park, McGaughey believes that dogs actually can make Paul Revere Park a safer place.

“If you have dogs around, crime goes down,” she said.

Stone, meanwhile, thinks having a place in the park designated specifically for dogs would be the best possible solution for everyone.

“I think it’s a win-win situation because a lot of dog owners go down there,” he said. “It’s a great place to congregate and exercise dogs. It’s a great place for everyone to enjoy a large, open space.”

If you are interested in signing the petition in favor of building a dog run at Paul Revere Park, Melissa McGaughey can be reached via email at brsmmlg@comcast.net.

Posted by Michèle at 7:39 PM
Categories: Massachusetts
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A follow up story in the Somerville Journal today, about Sister Stephen Marie and her dog, Lori, is the impetus for some catch-up blogging on Somerville dogs who have made the news recently.

Sister Stephen Marie is moving to a a nun's retirement home in Framingham after living at St. Benedict's convent in East Somerville since 1968. Last week, Journal readers learned that Lori, her six-year-old adopted dog and constant companion, is not welcome at the retirement home. According to the article, Sister Stephen Marie has no living family members. She has made arrangements for Lori to live with her groomer.

Another Somerville dog that has been featured in the Journal is Jake, the house mascot of the Somerville Home, a residential care facility that has served the community for more than 100 years. Recently, the Somerville Home celebrated Jake's fifteenth birthday—that's 105 in dog years! The golden retriever has been the resident pet therapist at the Somerville Home since an administrator rescued him from the pound 2-1/2 years ago.

Pet-assisted therapy is not the only way that Somerville dogs contribute in society: Molly walked in the AIDS Walk with her companion, Tom Santaniello: The team has raised $3,050 to help the AIDS Action Committee stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic through prevention, education and direct services to people living with HIV.

The Massachusetts State Police K-9 Unit has also made the local news a couple of times recently. On Memorial Day State Police used a canine unit to check the Cummings School for explosives: No bombs were found.

After a wild car chase through Somerville, police dogs were sent in to a swampy area next to train tracks in Everett after a suspect. "'Once the dogs went in, the guy was located in about 30 seconds,' said one officer involved in the chase."

Once the dogs located [the suspect], he was arrested on charges of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, failure to stop for police, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop at a stop sign, operating a vehicle with a revoked license and walking on railroad tracks.

Posted by Michèle at 9:04 AM
Categories: Dogs in the News, Somerville
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cross-posted on www.somdog.org, the website of the Somerville Dog Owners Group (som|dog)

The Nunziato OLRA will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, June 22, so that the fencing contractor can install the double gate at the Putnam Street entrance and reconfigure the entrance to the OLRA at the tree well on Summer Street. For more information, please contact Carlene Campbell, Community Outreach Director, Office for Strategic Planning and Community Development, City of Somerville: 617-625-6600, ext. 2500; ccampbell at ci.somerville.ma.us.

We will all enjoy safer access at the Putnam Street gate and better access at the tree well when the OLRA reopens on Friday, June 23!

Posted by Michèle at 1:08 PM
Categories: Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks", Somerville
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The All Dog Rescue Online Store is now open for business!

All Dog Rescue is an all volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue of regional dogs in need and matching each with appropriate and responsible owners. One of the things that makes All Dog Rescue unique among rescue organizations is that they are committed to helping the region's Animal Control Officers who, for lack of funding, space, or other resources, must euthanize adoptable dogs. All Dog Rescue volunteers are willing to travel reasonable distances to evaluate dogs. The organization will accept adoptable dogs from any animal welfare organization or surrendering owner within the region, including states adjacent to Massachusetts.

The som|dog online store opened in March 2005.

Posted by Michèle at 12:15 PM
Categories: Gear, Somerville Rescues
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Realtors have begun telling property owners they must make their buildings and apartment rentals more hospitable to the growing number of dog owners,

according to an article about the South End by Cristina Silva in the Boston Globe yesterday ("Lapping up luxuries").

Boston.com also has a slideshow featuring some of the dogs and the dog-friendly amenities of the South End, including the dog park at Peters Park, Tremont 647, which offers a doggie lunch on the patio every Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m., and Polka Dog Bakery.

via Bostondogs

Posted by Michèle at 3:06 PM
Categories: Dogs and Business, Massachusetts, Off-Leash Recreational Areas—i.e. "Dog Parks"
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A neighborhood walk is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, June 13, in East Somerville. According to Amber Espar of Groundwork Somerville, the walk will begin at 5:00 at the East Somerville Health Center, 42 Cross Street. The route of the walk is stenciled in 2,000 yellow footprints and passes by the Youth and Senior Center (165 Broadway), the East Somerville Community School (115 Pearl Street), Glen Park (150 Glen Street) and Grace Baptist Church (59 Gross Street).

Later that evening there is a community meeting to discuss the challenge to pedestrians crossing McGrath-O'Brien Highway. The meeting, at 7:00 in the East Somerville Community School cafeteria, is sponsored by East Somerville Neighbors for Change with the Somerville Community Corporation.

The East Somerville Neighborhood Walking Route was described in an article about AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps volunteers who worked on projects in Somerville for two and a half weeks this spring.

UPDATE 12 June 2006: Download the East Somerville Neighborhood Walking Route flyer (.doc file).

Posted by Michèle at 2:46 PM
Categories: Somerville
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UPDATE 8 June 2006: The Mayor's budget presentation to the Board of Aldermen is now online (.pdf file).

For Public input on the proposed FY 2007 budget, Alderman William A. White Jr., chairman of the Committee on Finance has ordered a public hearing before the Board of Aldermen, Tuesday, June 20, at 7 p.m. in the committee room on the second floor of City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue.

In addition to the proposed municipal budget for the 2007 fiscal year, the budgetary hearing schedule, from the City Finance Department, is now online.

Alderman at Large, Bill White, in an e-mail correspondence, provided this thumbnail summary of the municipal budget process.

The City's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30, so that the proposed budget that has been submitted would run from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007. With regard to the proposed budget, the Board of Aldermen only has power to cut from various line items, the Board cannot add or switch money around. As part of the budget process, when the Mayor submits the budget, the Mayor demonstrates where the revenue is to come to fund the budget. A city must have a balanced budget and cannot run a deficit, unlike the federal government. Basically, the revenues that you see in the proposed budget are estimates. Usually in December, the Mayor submits the items to the Board of Aldermen that are necessary to set the property tax rate. Once set, this tax rate cannot be changed. If revenues do not come in as anticipated during the year, the City either must lay off workers to reduce expenditures or transfer funds from free cash, which is basically a reserve.

The Mayor's budget presentation to the Board of Aldermen is this evening.

Posted by Michèle at 8:42 AM
Categories: Somerville
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The Mayor submitted the proposed FY 2007 Municipal Budget to the Board of Aldermen (BOA), Thursday, June 1, 2006. Some items of interest:

• The proposed budget projects a 160% increase in revenue from dog licenses (p. 6).

  The cost of a dog license will increase by 66.6% for spayed and neutered dogs (from $6 in FY '06 to $10 in FY '07) and by 33.3% for sexually intact animals (from $12 in FY '06 to $16 in FY '07).

• The proposed budget projects a 4900% increase in revenue from the sale of land (p. 8). Whereas the budget shows $10,000 in revenue on the FY '06, $500,000 in revenue is projected from sale of land in FY '07.

  On March 23, the Mayor requested that city-owned property at 0 New Washington Street, consisting of approximately 146,013 square feet of vacant land, be declared available for disposition pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws, c. 30B, § 16 (file #180747). Somerville dog owners will recall that the Dog Owners Task Force has been discussing this land behind the Holiday in in Cobble Hill and how to turn it into useable open space since November of 2005. As recently as March 9, 2006, the City's liaison to the Task Force told residents that an Off-Leash Recreational Area (OLRA) on New Washington Street was on schedule to open this Spring at the same time as the Nunziato OLRA.

• Again in FY '07, no funds have been proposed for off-leash recreational areas.

  This is disappointing, though not surprising. The Mayor has explained that, in our current fiscal situation, the budget cannot accommodate residents' need for open spaces where we may safely and legally socialize and exercise our dogs off-leash. The Board, too, supports fiscally responsible appropriations for OLRAs. On April 14, 2005, Alderman Taylor and the entire Board resolved that the Administration appropriate seed money to establish Off-Leash Dog Runs (file #178465).

The BOA Committee on Finance is scheduled to meet as a COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE seven times in June for the purpose of discussing the FY 2007 Budget and any and all business. According to the City's online calendar for the month of June 2006, the Committee on Finance will meet as a COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE in City Hall, 93 Highland Avenue, in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor, at the following times:

Tuesday, June 6, at 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 7, at 6:00 p.m.
Monday, June 12, at 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, June 13, at 6:00 p.m.
Monday, June 19, at 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, June 20, at 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, June 21, at 6:00 p.m.

The Board of Aldermen will also meet regularly on the second and fourth Thursday of the month on June 8 and June 22.

Posted by Michèle at 9:31 AM
Categories: Somerville
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via e-mail

N O T I C E: AMENDED

May 30, 2006

Under Section 24 of the City Charter, Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone has called for a Special Meeting of the Board of Aldermen, to be held as follows:

TIME: Thursday, June 1, 2006, at 5:55 PM.

LOCATION: Aldermanic Chambers, 2nd Floor, City Hall.

AGENDA: The meeting has been called to submit the FY07 Budget, and for the acceptance of the Milk Row Cemetery grant in the amount of $15,205.

John J. Long, City Clerk

Posted by Michèle at 9:18 AM
Categories: Somerville
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