The playground at Washington Square in North Beach is slated to receive nearly $1.5 million in renovations, thanks to a parks bond passed in 2012. But the looming project has spurred some local dog owners to speak up and ask if the playground—or another area in the park or its vicinity—could instead be considered for a dog play area.
A community presentation was given on May 5th to get input about designs for the new playground, and a planning meeting will be held at 6pm Wednesday, June 22nd, at the Joe DiMaggio Clubhouse. Friends of Washington Square and Rec & Park urge everyone who wants to voice opinions to attend the meeting.
North Beach resident Jay Stokes attended the May 5th meeting. He said he brought up the idea of a dog play area, but that others in attendance resisted the idea of discussing dogs.
Dogs are allowed on-leash in the park, but that rule is routinely flouted, causing destruction. "I go to Washington Square Park every day, and there are a ton of dogs. There’s no safe off-leash space for them," said Stokes, who has a Havanese named Elvis Presley. "The Friends of Washington Square want to preserve the park, and so do I. The only way to do that is to collaboratively share it and have a place for dogs.”
Stokes said he's presented a petition with 250 signatures to Rec & Park; ultimately, he hopes to collect 1,000. He's currently helping to organize a community group that's devoted to pursuing a dog play area or park in North Beach, though he said they'd be open to seeing one anywhere in District 3.
"We’ve received the petition and have been in contact with the group," SF Recreation and Park spokesperson Joey Kahn told us via email. "The petition states their desire for a dog play area in Washington Square Park. We are prepared to advise them on how to build a larger community consensus, and work with the Supervisor’s office and Rec & Park staff to find a location that works for the neighborhood."
The closest dog play area to North Beach, Stokes said, is at Lafayette Park (near Sacramento and Gough streets), which is more than a mile and a half away for most neighbors. The Rincon Hill Dog Park in SoMa is equally far.
Combine that with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's proposal to restrict off-leash dogs from much of Ocean Beach, Crissy Field, Baker Beach, and Fort Funston, and dogs are being displaced, he said.
One idea being put forth is creating a dog play area instead of building a new playground. With Joe DiMaggio Playground (651 Lombard St.) having just reopened last November after a massive overhaul and Michelangelo Playground just a few blocks away on Greenwich Street, Stokes (and others, who didn't wish to be quoted) is questioning why the playground needs renovating at all.
But the possibility of turning the playground into a dog play area is fraught. Friends of Washington Square's June Fraps said that while the group as a whole hasn't taken a position on the topic of a dog play area, she's personally opposed to it. She believes that the playground area—tucked into a shady corner next to the restroom building—is too small to do much good. (At .17 acres, it's only one-thirteenth of the 2.26 acres of the park.)
Ken Maley, also with Friends of Washington Square, had the same opinion. "The main interest in having a dog area, in my view, is to reduce the damage to the park caused by dogs off-leash, and that space is too small to accommodate or attract dog owners.”
Joe DiMaggio Playground wasn't built for toddlers, so the hope is for the Washington Square playground to be more of a "tot lot," Fraps said. Additionally, the playground was landmarked in 1999, and she believes that there would be too many hoops to jump through.
We asked Rec & Park's Kahn if the playground must be kept a playground, due to its landmark designation. He told us that changing the play area to another use would require additional study and environmental review, significantly delaying the renovation of the playground.
"For these reasons, the department intends to proceed with the renovation of the children’s playground," Kahn said. However, it "supports the exploration of a dog play area in another location, provided there is community consensus on need and location."
Kahn also noted that the the playground is one of 13 designated by the Failing Playgrounds Task Force as a Tier 1 (the highest) priority under the 2012 Clean & Safe Parks Bond. That bond dedicated $15.5 million total for failing playgrounds.
"The fact of the matter is, you can’t just take away the playground and make it into a dog run," Fraps said.
An alternative idea being bandied about is carving out a slice of the park near the perimeter for a dog play area, possibly in a little-used area along Columbus Avenue, just south of the playground.
Christine Welland of Russian Hill doesn't have a dog, but has two children, ages three and four. She said she'd welcome a dialogue about a place for dogs in the park, as off-leash dogs sometimes dissuade her from putting down a blanket with her children. "Sometimes kids are scared of dogs; sometimes dogs don't like kids," she said. And there's the issue of dog owners not picking up their pets' waste.
"I don’t necessarily think that [a dog area] should replace the playground, per se," Welland said. "But I think it’s really important to open the conversation so that dog owners get their voices heard and we think of the needs of dogs at the park.”
