Globe article on Newton

[s1702]

Looks like NIMBYism at its worst in Newton. Don't forget, this is the
same town where residents protested & harassed people for just using
the T stops in their neighborhoods.

I'll be heading to this park as often as I can & I'll be sure to take
my dog on a nice long walk on the PUBLIC sidewalks in the area as well
(leashed of course).



Newton’s dogfight
Critics of leash-free canine play area hire lawyer to make protests a
federal case

By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | August 6, 2009

NEWTON - Each day this summer, Rick Dyer has headed into the woods of
Cold Spring Park for a jog and surveillance.

Dyer, who lives up the block from the 67-acre park’s entrance, says he
inevitably finds his target: Dogs springing from behind copses of
white oaks and cottonwoods, unleashed and yapping, headed for the
city’s experimental off-leash meadow.

“I take notes on the owners, their height and such,’’ Dyer said.

In an era when dog whisperers tout the benefits of socializing dogs
with other dogs, leash-free areas are the stuff of many a municipal
agenda, often not without controversy.

But here in the highlands of this suburb, the radical tenor of the
campaign against the dog park has taken many by surprise. Residents
opposed to the off-leash area have photographed dog owners on their
way into Cold Spring Park and recorded their cars’ license plate
numbers.

Some stand sentry, reprimanding pet owners who allow their dogs to run
loose outside the designated area and reporting the violators to
police. Some have left notes on windshields of illegally parked cars.
They have barraged aldermen with e-mails recounting the offenses, so
far, to no end. The off-leash area has remained, taking with it, the
residents say, their suburban oasis.

Now, they say, they have been left with no choice but to hire a lawyer
and make federal case of the matter.

In a letter mailed to Mayor David B. Cohen last week, Peter F.
Harrington, the lawyer retained by Dyer and other residents, warned
that adding the off-leash area to the park requires approval from the
US Secretary of the Interior. He argued that the off-leash area has
decreased the recreational uses of the park, in violation of
provisions attached to federal money given by the department for park
improvements.

Jeremy Solomon, spokesman for the mayor, declined comment on the
letter, saying that the city’s legal department is reviewing it.

Cold Spring’s off-leash area, the first of its kind in Newton, opened
in March on a trial basis for nine months. Until then, Newton had not
allowed dogs to be off-leash anywhere except on their owners’
property.

The Cold Spring off-leash area is restricted to a 2-acre meadow
bounded by trees. Signs remind owners that dogs must be on leashes
elsewhere in the park.

From the start, opponents complained of cars parked in front of their
homes and dogs running rampant.

“We couldn’t go on the trails because we’d get attacked by the dogs,’’
said Jim Possinger, a neighbor of the park.

Supporters say the off-leash area has made their dogs better behaved,
allowing them to expend excess energy and learn to interact with one
another.

“You have to exercise and socialize your dog, ’’ said Liz Chinian, a
Newton resident and frequent off-leash area visitor with her miniature
poodle, Greta.

“That’s what Cesar says,’’ she added, referring to Cesar Millan, of
the National Geographic Channel’s “Dog Whisperer.’’

The battle has grown so pitched that regular visitors to the off-leash
area have stopped parking near the entrance closest to the homes of
opponents.

“We felt like we were being harassed,’’ said Diane Silver, a supporter
of the off-leash area, who visits daily with her miniature
labradoodle.

Opponents of the area say they are assaulted with nasty looks.

“Anyone who doesn’t have a dog is looked on with attitude,’’ Dyer
said.

City officials say they are hopeful that the volume of visitors to the
Cold Spring off-leash area will diminish if six other proposed off-
leash areas win approval. Two of those areas could be approved as soon
as September.

In the meantime, in an effort to appease opponents, the city recently
banned parking on one side of the streets near a heavily used entrance
to the park.

“We want to be problem solvers,’’ said Susan Albright, an alderman and
member of the off-leash advisory committee.

She said the uproar has been among the greatest she has experienced as
an elected official. “This is Newton,’’ she said. “People speak their
minds.’’

On a recent evening, as cars pulled into newly illegal spaces near an
entrance to Cold Spring Park, nearby residents kept watch.

“Look! Look!’’ said one woman as she eyed a Volkswagen Jetta with an
out-of-state license plate. “What is that plate? Vermont? For all I
know, that’s a dog-walker.

“Now they’re getting out and the radio is blaring,’’ she said. “I
don’t want to be a meanie and call the cops. But really.’’

She added, “Until you live here, you just can’t understand.’’