Dog Owners:
The City has finally announced the open houses for off leash space. It really is important that you take the opportunity to make yourselves heard. I have been following the off leash committee activities over the last year and while owners of small/inactive dogs will find the proposed parks meet their needs (finally and congratulations, you've needed the space); those of us with large and or highly active dogs are very poorly served.
Whether this is due to the bias of the off leash committee (almost all are owners of small dogs and none of them currently use the off leash areas) or the consequence of the city not wishing to allocate large spaces wholly to dog owners, we will still be out of luck. We are looking at continuing to share space with joggers and bikes and everything else at Ginters and Moores (and let's face it, should one of these groups of people complain about the dogs, it is the dogs who will be banned; after all our tax dollars don't appear to be as valuable as that of joggers and bikers), or thrashing through brush at a space in College Heights with no developed trails and no funds to develop trails.
Attend the open houses. Let the off leash committee know your needs. This is really important if you want a large space for both you and your dogs to enjoy. It has taken the committee over a year to finally ask us what we, as dog owners, need and want. Now is the time to tell them.
Annie Booth
Prince George