13 November 2007

It's one of those dull and gripey ones.

Allright. I've yammered about this before. I'll keep it brief. So the place I walk the dogs is a giant, 33 acre field on the beach. It also includes a beach. Known as Lighthouse Field because the Lighthouse is right there. It's not just a field-it's a like a little nature preserve, bisected with paths everywhere, trees and bushes and it's where everyone walks around on 33 acres worth of paths with their dogs. No fences or houses or swings. Room for everyone. Dogs, babies, meth dealers, kids, surfers, crabby neighbors, birds, gophers, cats, drunks, homeless, eldery people. And the beach is the only local one of the WHOLE COASTLINE of beaches here that you can run your dogs on. That is, before 10am and after 4pm.

Here. Enjoy a vintage photo of the dogs enjoying the beach while you're bored. Fashion styles of the year Kurt Cobain died!

For years we've been fighting over it. Me and the 3,000 other supporters who enjoy walking around out there with our dogs. Here's where the story gets confusing and I won't even bother to go into it, go to the Friends of Lighthouse Field website to find more if you have the slightest bit of interest or are wondering but Why Don't... So the "end" or I guess more like "latest" is that the State gets it back to be a State Park, rather than a City managed neighborhood park, on Thursday. The why, you can read about. It's not about dogs anymore. It's about lawsuits, timing of an EIR, CEQA law, grant money, loopholes, and 3 neighbors that hate dogs.

I never even thought it would be my neighborhood park anymore. I thought we were moving to a ranch and I'd always just be able to open my door and let the dogs run around in my giant huge ranch-like yard. Yet here we are. And as of Friday, Officially, dogs have to walk tied to their owners on a leash there. No running allowed, unless you are also running with them. (Have you seen what some of my dogs consider "Walking" to be?) Or you will get a ticket. The state officials will Educating us for 100 days about proper leash usage. You KNOW I am unteachable. Then start writing tickets. Maybe. The state doesn't even WANT the park but because of lawsuits, CEQA, the EIR, 3 grouchy neighbors, LONG STORY, they got it.

Then when they write the tickets, One Per Dog! Kaching! We go to court to contest them. Tie up the courts. File a new lawsuit. Blah de blah de blah. To walk the dogs in a field and on a beach without their leashes on like we always have for a million years. This is dumb and boring right? Right! It drives us nuts! Makes us want to move. What a waste of time. But talk about something stuck in a craw. And weird the amount of time and energy spent for just a nice place to walk around

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