People were frustrated back in 2012, when signs went up at Clemente Park barring dogs from the park. Prior to this rule change, the park saw roughly 150 dogs come through every week, so it was getting quite a bit of use from our canine friends. On the other hand, it's tough for dogs and kids to share public space since since a dog owner can't always perform a perfect cleanup job after their pet does its business. Four years ago, the local community group was working on a couple of ideas to create a dog park in the neighborhood on a large vacant parcel on the 1800 block of Green Street.
According to a Newsworks story from 2014, many dog owning neighbors were in support of this idea, but it also faced considerable opposition from the Enon Baptist Church to the west and the Waring School to the east. The article indicated that Councilman Clarke was aware of these concerns but was committed to working with the neighborhood to alleviate neighbor worries. And it seems that's what happened at some point in the last couple of years, because the dog park is now under construction.
The posted permits for the project indicate plans for a new fence, some signage, and a dog fountain. And that's about all the info we have at this point. So we have no idea what this thing will look like, nor do we know how the neighbor concerns were assuaged, but we still believe this is great news for the area and that the dog park will be a wonderful asset to the neighborhood. If nothing else, it's great news for the numerous trees and shrubs in the vicinity.