A dog park would provide a place for dogs and their owners to socialize.
By: CHAZ PLAGER
Look, I love my dog. And he loves our house. We’re lucky enough to have a spacious yard to put him in, with space to use as a toilet. But sometimes you want your dog to socialize with other dogs. It’s nice to watch him run around while you sit back and watch, instead of throwing him a ton of balls.
And the Palisades, as it happens, is currently lacking a dog park. When Councilwoman Traci Park first ran for the office of Los Angeles District 11 in 2022, one of her biggest promises to the Palisades specifically was that a dog park would be installed. This gathered her a substantial amount of Palisadian votes that were likely instrumental to her win that year.
So, two years later… Where is the dog park?
Let’s start from the beginning. The movement for a dog park in the Palisades first started 20 years ago, led by Jan Chatten Brown. The plan was to have the park built in Potrero Canyon, which was the only open land at the time. This idea was rejected by rim owners, and the idea slowly fizzled out.
Many years passed until 2014, when a revival began with Palisades resident Leslie Campbell. At the time, the District 11 Council member was Michael Bonin. Leslie Campbell, as well as her group of friends, organized and went to Bonin to propose a dog park.
Bonin refused, and would continue to refuse for the next eight years. “I think he took particular pleasure in refusing to represent us,” said fellow organizer Lori Guggenheim.
In 2016, a tax measure, Measure A, was passed in Los Angeles, it was a new property tax with the intention of gathering funds for new parks in Los Angeles.
Campbell, upon hearing that the Brentwood area had gathered over $2 million dollars in funds from Measure A with no park to spend it on, saw an opportunity.
As the next election for District 11 approached, Campbell reached out to candidate Traci Park, offering to gather votes for her if Traci would put in a dog park when she got into office. Park agreed, and Campbell encouraged her online following of dog park lovers of 3000 to vote for Park.
Thanks to this substantial boost, Park won, and began working on the dog park. Just last summer, Park announced at an outside event, that a dog park would be coming to the Palisades, as the park had been approved by Parks and Recreation.
And on January 18, 2024, funding from the Los Angeles Rec and Parks Commission for the park itself was also approved. A second application for funding was also submitted recently, putting the dog park in the hands of the county, utilizing Measure A funds.
“Now that the application for funding is with the County of Los Angeles Regional Park and Open Space District, we are awaiting its approval,” Park’s office stated. “Usually, this process takes many months, but when it is done, the rest of the process is within the City’s purview.”
The park is planned to be built on the north side of Temescal Canyon Road, next to some existing park amenities. This is the second time a dog park has been planned to be built there. “I remember that when we first moved in, they wanted to build a dog park over on Temescal, but the neighbors complained it’d be too noisy,” one Palisades resident recalls. “It seemed silly to me, worrying about dogs barking when you live next to the freeway, but it’s nice to know that they’re seeing sense now.”
For those who aren’t closely following the development, two years is a long enough time to make people believe that it’s never going to happen. That’s basically forever! But make no mistake: Traci Park is not slacking on the project like too many politicians do with their promises.
“Traci has done everything she can to get this park built,” dog park co-founder Lynn Miller emphasizes. ”It’s in the hands of bureaucracy now.” And those anxiously awaiting a place for their dogs to play can rest easy— construction shouldn’t take longer than a year to start, once the County acts. Which could be just a little less than forever.
A dog park would provide a place for dogs to exercise.
On July 1st Rec and Parks General Manager appeared at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the $3 M upgrade of a pocket park in North Hollywood. He was pleasantly surprised to learn of a 4-year time frame from start to finish for a project funded with RAP Quimby funds — some of which have languished in a City account (not CD#2) since ’07.
Thank you Traci. And thank you Chaz for enlightening us. Amazing anything ever gets done. A dog park would be wonderful.
I still can’t see where the park would be. Food trucks and beach parking by PCH so it’s too crowded there. Pali at the top so it’s too crowded there. Simon Meadow is where it should go…
Thank you CTN for this update and the unexpected kudos but, for the record, while Mike Bonin did not get our project green lite, he did submit the initial motion to City Council which got the ball rolling. Then after a 7 year effort, by Lynn Hylen-Miller, Carol Ross and myself, Traci Park actually called me about taking it to the finish line. She did not disappoint and she is our hero!!! It’s a very slow process but we are getting there. Every dog in the Palisades should thank her! Thank you, Leslie Campbell (Please contact me directly to fact check in the future.)