Hey all,
We were able to scare up enough volunteers to feel comfortable re-enabling pool usage, so we have replaced the hose and gotten a key-type handle for the fountain connection. We are working on getting a new pool (without a leak!) to the park. Please help the volunteers by assisting with enforcement of the pool rules when you can, especially if your pup is a pool user. Most important is to make sure the hose is off the grass by the end of each Tuesday. We purchased high quality, pricey hose to last longer- please help us to make sure it doesn't get mowed! The pool rules are below- there are some small changes from the last version-

POOL RULES
1. Pool should always be in the middle of the center mulched area. Prevents mowing issues, reduces mud from dumping, and keeps water cleaner longer.
2. Fill pool no more than halfway to preserve water.
3. Hose should ONLY be on while pool/bowls/water containers are being filled. A key for the fountain hose connection is in the bulletin board. PUT KEY BACK EVERY TIME HOSE IS TURNED ON/OFF to keep it from getting misplaced.
4. Use siphon hose to drain most of dirty water before dumping (use turned on hose to get siphon started), and when dumping, do so slowly so as to not wash mulch away. A shovel is at the park permanently in the tree to be used to respread mulch to cover any resulting mud spots.
4. Please help us to keep the hose from getting mowed by dragging the hose down to the north entry gate area, onto the concrete, Tuesday evenings!

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Good news on the dumped pit! His

Hey all, quick note-
For the time being, the pool is closed. This is because one of the hoses burst, and needs to be replaced, plus the fact that the water has been left running, apparently for days at a time, on at least three occasions recently. We don't want to enable water wastage and resulting mud by providing hoses for the pool.

We will replace the hose and get the pool up and running again if we can get a decent number of individuals (pool lovers seem logical) to commit to making sure that the pool rules below get followed. The biggie is #4- people need to be willing to drag the hose off the grass each Tuesday evening. Please respond ASAP if you are willing to commit- please let me know in your response if you are regularly at the park Tuesday evenings.

Thanks, we realize the pool is popular (although not with everyone), and want to be able to bring it back as soon as possible!

POOL RULES
1. Pool should always be in the middle of the center mulched area. Prevents mowing issues, and reduces mud from dumping.
2. Fill pool no more than halfway to make dumping easier and preserve water.
2. Hose should ONLY be on while pool/bowls/water containers are being filled. If the sprayer or hose is leaking, it should be turned off at the fountain (needle-nose pliers inside bulletin board).
3. Please dump pool infrequently (if pool is kept in middle of mulch, water will get dirty much more slowly), and when dumping, do so slowly so as to not wash mulch away. A shovel is at the park permanently in the tree to be used to respread mulch to cover any resulting mud spots.
4. Please help us to keep the hose from getting mowed by dragging the hose down to the north entry gate area Tuesday evenings.

Hello everyone,
A well behaved pit was found wandering near the park yesterday. This nice dog appears to be lost- please spread the word. And if you are available to foster, it sounds like this guy is in a very temporary home- contact pvdork@yahoo.com if you can help.

Here is the info I got- thanks to the good-hearted individual who got this nice fellow out of the park (he evidently spent the night there Monday) and the similarly big-hearted person who has given him a temporary home. A picture is attached-

My neighbor and I were at the dog park the evening of June 23. There was a
brindle pit bull playing with our dogs. As darkness fell and the number of
people thinned out, it became apparent the pit was without owner. My neighbor
and I looked all over the park for tags or leash but found none. The dog is
spending time with a friend that has four dogs. The dog is brindle (grayish
white tones, a little pudgey, extremely well taken care of-clean teeth, ears,
eyes, clipped nails, and extremely well trained-loose leash walk, sit, lay,
settle on command. I will post fliers at the park this afternoon. Anyone know
this dog-its owner? Thanks, in advance, for your help.

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Seems a bit trivial after that, but we are having had some issues recently regarding the pool hose. Specifically, the water has been left on for days at a time, leading to a semi-swamp, as well as being very wasteful of water. Please turn off the water, either using the new sprayer on the hose that we just bought, or at the fountain (needle nose pliers are now always inside the bulletin board), or let someone know if you see issues like this! You can always email this address or use the 'contact us' link through the website.

The pool is very popular (I know a good number of people would just as soon it went away, too), but users need to start taking more responsibilty for it. We would hate to have to take it away- we did pay for the hose. With that in mind, we came up with some 'pool rules'- these will eventually be laminated and attached to the pool itself:

1. Pool should always be in the middle of the center mulched area. Prevents mowing issues, and reduces mud from dumping.
2. Fill pool no more than halfway to make dumping easier and preserve water.
2. Hose should ONLY be on while pool/bowls/water containers are being filled. If the sprayer or hose is leaking, it should be turned off at the fountain (needle-nose pliers inside bulletin board).
3. Please dump pool infrequently (if pool is kept in middle of mulch, water will get dirty much more slowly), and when dumping, do so slowly so as to not wash mulch away. A shovel is at the park permanently in the tree to be used to respread mulch to cover any resulting mud spots.
4. Please help us to keep the hose from getting mowed by dragging the hose down to the north entry gate area Tuesday evenings.

Thanks all for helping out on this!

see everybody at the park...

Hello all,
First, thanks again to all who helped with the mulch spreading. Some of you put in as much as 4 hours of fairly strenuous labor, and everyone who helped, even for 15 minutes, should be proud of your contribution to the park. Thanks to you (and Parks and Rec for bringing the mulch), we should have a largely mud-free, all-weather park for quite some time. Your help is appreciated! And all, please be ready to help with spreading another load of mulch in the late fall to get us through the winter. If we can get lots of helpers, it makes it much quicker and easier for all involved.
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About five weeks ago the DIG Board of Directors sent an email to the Parks Board expressing our concerns about the lack of progress on completing the parking and expansion plans funded through our 2007 PIAC request (a copy is attached). Although it took them a bit to get back to us, the Board, through Parks Director Mark McHenry, responded with a letter setting a firm timeline for the improvements to be completed this year. I have attached the text of the letter below. This information was shared with our two Fourth District Council Representatives, Jan Marcason (who responded very promptly when we asked for help) and Beth Gottstein, and the mayor. We will be paying close attention to see that these timelines are met, and will ask for your help, in the form of emails, calls and letters to the Park Board and city officials, if they are not being met. We need to continue to be polite, but also keep strong pressure exerted to make sure the needed work gets completed. A statement was made recently (some time before the letter setting the work timeline) by Commissioner Aggie Stackhaus in the course of a Dog Park Task Force update to the Park Board that (paraphrasing here) we 'shouldn't count on the PIAC money for the off-leash area improvements being there- we have other priorities'. Although we are confident that attitude does not represent the whole Park Board (for one, shifting PIAC money in that way is at least dishonest, if not illegal), and definately doesn't represent the attitude of the majority of the staff, we need to make no assumptions that things will proceed simply because we have firm deadlines. Be ready to write letters or help out with the improvements (we will need to stretch the $155,000), or both, depending on how things go. If we stay on it, and are willing to help out, the park will be much improved quite soon!

Text of the reply to our letter-
Dear Paul,
First let me tell you we appreciate your recent note regarding the status of the improvements to the off leash areas (sic) in Penn Valley Park. We appreciate your groups involvement in the oversight and support of this very popular facility.

The popularity of the park makes it all the more important to get the improvements completed. The impact that the number of users (both dogs and people) have on the physical environment is very evident. Although parking does exist at 'the Hiker' and the Just Off Broadway Theatre, it appears to be somewhat inadequate or inconvienent to some.

We will be completing the new design on June 30th, complete contract documents and specifications by July 8th, and receive and open bids on August 6, 2008.

Let me know Paul, if there is anything else we can do. We will stay on this project and keep you posted.

Sincerely,
Mark L. McHenry, Director
Parks and Recreation

cc: Board of Parks commissioners
Steve Lampone
Richard Coleman
Jimmi Lossing

Unfortunately, due to the likelihood of rain and/or storms this evening, movie night has been postponed to July 10th. Although it is possible the weather will clear up, the hill where folks would sit is very wet, and we don't want what will be a really good time to be wasted due to weather.

If you had food for SNKC's pet assistance program for tonight, please drop it off at their offices at 3710 Main. A hungry dog will thank you. And if you want a good reason to stop by, they are having a big Flea Market 9-4 this Sat. the 14th. They are still taking donations- gently used clothing, furniture, toys, cookware, small working appliances & household items. All donations are tax deductible!

Thanks all, see you at an even better movie night four weeks from today!

The dog in the last story has been reunited with her owners. Thanks to all who helped!

See below for info on a missing dog in Brookside- jot down the owners number and keep your eyes open! Just like Wilco who got home with the help of email and alert folks, let's help this pup get home!

Katie,

Please forward this to as many people in the Brookside area as possible. Our dog has been missing for almost 2 hours. She broke free off her collar and took off running. She will not have tags or information on her.

Name: Zoey
Weight: 65 pounds
Color: Brownish, very pretty color..
Responds to "Zoey" "Zoe-babe" or "Zo"
She's got huge ears that stick up straight (mostly) like a Shepherd mix. She was last seen around 57th and Locust. If you have any information on her whereabouts please contact Sean and Sara Laferte at 816/809-9828, 501/551-7717, or 816/283-4691. Thank you to anyone that can help out with this.

Hey PVP DP folks,
We have to cancel this Saturday's Coffee with the Dogs, as Rockfest will be causing a parking nightmare this Sat. This is especially unfortunate for Spay Neuter Kansas City, who were hoping to collect some dog and cat food for their Pet Assistance Program, which helps very poor but responsible inner city pet owners. If you picked up some food to drop off Sat., please either drop it off at their office (3710 Main, normal business hours) or bring it to our Hollywoof movie night next Thursday. They are hurting right now for food supplies, and would greatly appreciate any quantity of food you could donate. Please consider picking up an extra bag, even a small one, of any kind of dog food (cheap is fine) and bring it out Thursday, or drop it off at SNKC.

And if you are planning on using the dogpark Saturday, I would recommend trying Off Broadway for parking (you may have to squeeze by a barrier- they often try to deter festival parkers by making it look like their lot is blocked off- they usually leave a big enough gap to get through, though). 29th is already blocked, and expect Wyandotte to be blocked off at 31st starting early Sat.
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Hollywoof's visit to the PVP DP next Thursday will be a blast- don't miss it! The fashion show (all model spots are now filled) will be a MAJOR production- our City Pets and Ponds friends are going all out, and Parks and Rec is providing a cat walk (perhaps we should call it a dog walk instead...) for the full fashion show experience. We are working on getting the KC Disc Dogs out to provide additional entertainment (in part to fill our talent show slot- nobody is coming forward to participate- $50 gift certificate, people!). Hallmark has also said they will be out shooting the fashion show, looking for talent. And how fun will it be to watch the hilarious 'Best in Show' with your dogpark friends! This is another 'don't miss it or you will regret it' DIG event, like the Dog Days fundraiser at Boulevard last year- we will see you there- and please bring some dog food for SNKC!
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The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City (HSGKC) is having their always popular Dog-n-Jog this Sunday. Great time for a great cause- see the info they shared with me below:
If possible, could you let your members know about Dog-n-Jog on Sunday, June 8 on the Country Club Plaza from 7-10:30 am. Register at www.dognjog.com for $25 until June 7 or in-person at the event for $35 on June 8. All proceeds benefit the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.
Our goal is

Hello everyone,
First, thanks to everyone who helped with the mulch on Friday. We made a bit of a dent, but we need more help Saturday. We are meeting at the park at 10AM, Sat. 5/31 to spread more mulch. Your help is appreciated- we will have a few extra shovels and rakes, but bringing one of your own is recommended. Note that they have fenced off 29th street for the Gay Pride Festival (11AM+ both Sat. and Sun.) so I would recommend parking on the hill or at Off Broadway (take Broadway south from Pershing, veer right just past 29th, and go under the bridge to the left to the Off Broadway lot). Thank you- the more people we have show up, the quicker it will be. Your help will make for an all-weather park, at least for a while (and also avoid having rotting mulch piles bursting into flame... :) ). If enough people email me saying they are coming and would like coffee, I will pick some up.
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You may have seen the note posted on the fence, but Spay Neuter Kansas City is very short of dog and cat food for their Pet Assistance program. If you can buy an extra bag (even a small one) next time you are at the store and donate it, a needy pet owner will be helped, and hungry pets will have full bellies. Drop off your donations at SNKC (3710 Main, quite close to the park), at our June Coffee with the Dogs (9-11AM, next Sat. 6/7), or at our movie night the evening of 6/12. Of course, a donation through their website is very convenient and just as effective. SNKC also always needs volunteers- see their website, stop by their clinic on Main, or come to our June Coffee with the Dogs, where SNKC will be handing out info. They are also cc:ed on this email if you want to email them.

Thanks all!

Hey all,
Movie night is going to be a blast! We need both doggie models and doggie participants for our talent show (we also need volunteers to help in other ways) ASAP! If you would like to participate/help out, reply to the list. If modeling is what you want to do, please also provide rough measurements for your dog's collar, chest diameter, and back length (from base of neck to base of tail). First repliers (with precedence to volunteers) get the spots. Any dog that will tolerate clothes is a fine modeling candidate. For the talent show, if your dog does anything cool, that is all we need! June 12th is not too far away, so please get back quickly!
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After not hearing about any break-in's for a long time, we had three at once in the area off of 29th on Thursday, 5/15 around 5PM. Please keep an eye on your cars occasionally when in the park, especially at less busy park times. And don't leave valuables in your car! If you see a car (especially older models with temp tags) pull into the parking area, and don't see a person get out with a dog within a few seconds, watch closely and call 911 if it continues to look suspicious. I haven't heard the exact M.O. used this time, but last year the thieves were backing in for quick exit, and then getting out of their cars low and hidden, and creeping around hiding behind cars.
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I also heard Animal Control was out ticketing owners who were not using leashes between their cars and the park. Although we didn't suggest it, not leashing your dogs on the way to and from the park is both illegal and dangerous, so we don't object. 29th is very busy since the 31st street bridge has been closed, and there are lots of foxes in the area. I worry that we are going to have to have a dog killed or seriously injured, possibly bolting across 29th in pursuit of a fox, before long. Please leash your dogs!

Thanks all, see you at the park!