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Is This Town Really Going to the Dogs?

Editorial

Iowa City Press-Citizen

September 12, 2005

[Note: This material is copyright by the Press-Citizen, and is reproduced here as a matter of "fair use" for non-commercial, educational purposes only. Any other use may require the prior approval of the Iowa City Press-Citizen.]


As dog lovers, we'd be happy to see Iowa City become home to the best dog park this side of the Westminster Kennel Club. Who wouldn't want a nice place for Rover to run and play without a leash? But when the Johnson County Dog Park Association went to the Iowa City Council in June for a $70,000 loan to cover its shortfall for a proposed dog park on the Lower Peninsula, we editorialized against the loan.

We felt then and still feel today that there are more pressing needs in our community than a dog park that would feature three separate areas for our furry friends: a main yard for general use, an area exclusively for small dogs (a Chihuahua, for example) and an agility area where dogs could be shown. If area dog lovers couldn't raise the full $100,000 for the estimated cost of the park, we reasoned, then there wasn't broad enough support to justify a loan from the city.

Besides, with the Iowa City/Coralville Animal Care and Adoption Center taking in more than 2,300 animals last year, of which only 667 found a home, it seemed a bit extravagant to be giving our beloved house pets a new playground -- and with local taxpayers shelling out the majority of funds, no less.

But, we'll be the first to admit, it's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and the City Council went against our advice -- not the first time, nor the last -- and approved the $70,000 loan.

Now that decision seems to have come back to bite the council on the you-know-what. This week the city announced that only one contractor bid on the first stage of the Lower Peninsula dog park, and the bid came in at nearly $20,000 above the estimated cost. Iowa City Parks and Recreation officials say the 11-acre dog park isn't in jeopardy but concede that they're going to have to reevaluate some aspects of the park's design and search for ways to cut costs.

Still, with All-American Concrete of West Liberty's most elaborate plan -- which includes a spacious doggy pond for Fido -- sporting a price tag of more than $200,000, it may be time for a serious rethink of the entire project. Many of us at the Press-Citizen have dogs in our family, and we find they enjoy chasing a ball in an open field as much as they do anything else. Perhaps a nice fence and a little landscaping is all that is needed.

One thing's for certain, a smaller, more modest dog park wouldn't take nearly as big a bite out of the city's wallet.