My Reply to Chris Pelly

From:
To: chrispelly@avlcouncil.com
Subject: RE: Our talk today
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:29:12 -0400

Thanks for the Post!  It's up now.  I made up a headline;  let me know if you'd like a different one.

I think you'll find that people are concerned for a number of reasons, but the common factor is rejection of a dog park at that location.  We are not convinced a dog park would be quiet, clean and well-maintained, and that traffic would be moderate.  We don't think users would keep dogs on a leash until inside the fence.  We don't want to doom the Killian House to being surrounded by a dog park.  Any solution to this impasse will need to give positive assurance that the idea of a dog park at this location is forever dead.  As for alternatives, I think everyone I know would be happy with any of the proposed alternatives.  And some residents would be willing to contribute significant funds for some alternatives.

Your idea of organizing sounds good to me.  There was talk of holding a Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting in North Asheville.  If that involves notifying residents, we might coordinate that with notifying people about an "alternatives to dog park" meeting.  (We'll need to find a disinterested moderator for that meeting).  A police officer introduced us to nextdoor.com at the event on Sunday.  The same notice might include a pitch to get people to register at nextdoor.com.  Possibly the publishers of North Asheville Magazine might feature this effort.  Sounds like a good cover story!

About the blog:  They're actually pretty simple to do - just rather daunting to face the necessity of making frequent posts to maintain interest.  With Google Blogger, it's an extension of my gmail account, and as such, all posts are posted by me.  I've decided, at least for now, to accept any and all posts and comments, so long as they are decent and don't make ad hominem attacks.  Posts need to be emailed to me, but comments can be made through the blog interface.  Comments appear after I review them to assure they meet the guidelines.  I hope to use Responsible Asheville for other issues after this is over.