Catherine McEwen is doggone happy about the city’s plan to put an off-leash area in Moody Park.
For the past three years, Catherine and her husband Ken have been encouraging the city to create an off-leash area in the park. They recently learned of the city’s recent decision to create an off-leash area created near the park’s entrance at Sixth Avenue and Eighth Street.
“I think it’s just fine,” she said of the location. “It’s better than the other two. The other two were small.”
The city also considered locations at the rear of Century House and near the outdoor lacrosse box.
McEwen is confident the space will be large enough for dog owners to throw balls for their pooches. While a resident voiced safety concerns about locating the off-leash area under a canopy of chestnut trees, McEwen isn’t worried about dogs ingesting the nuts when they fall from the trees.”
“There is chestnut trees all over,” she said. “Nobody has ever gotten sick or died yet.”
The McEwens are frequent visitors to Moody Park with their dog Indio, a spaniel-Chihuahua mix who loves to socialize with other pups.
While she’s happy with the city’s decision, McEwen still believes a location closer to 10th Street and Sixth Avenue would have been ideal. Some city officials had concerns the dogs would have a negative impact on the trees in that part of the park.
“We didn’t want any trees cut down, she said. “We wanted those trees for shade. It would have been just perfect. We will take what they are offering, which is second best.”
McEwen, who has been vacationing in California, is impressed with the dog parks in the Coachella Valley. Even though it’s a desert, she said the area’s dog parks are green as can be.
“You should see the dog parks down here,” she said. “They are beautiful. They have green grass, benches to sit on, canopies to stay out of the sun.”
While vacationing in California, McEwen purchased Powerball lottery ticket with the hope of winning the $500 million prize. Her plan?
“If I won, I was going to pay for the dog park in Moody Park, for the grass and people to come in and maintain it,” she said.
