The small OLRA at Leathers Park is a welcome addition to the parks in the City. In particular, owners of small dogs will appreciate an alternative to the larger OLRA at Nunziato Field which is popular among people with larger dogs.

Ed Leathers Community Park, named for former Somerville resident and WWII veteran Edward L. Leathers, PFC, opens with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday evening, August 28, at 6:00 p.m. Members of Ed Leathers' family will be special guests at the ceremony, which will include a brief speaking agenda, gun salute*, and light refreshments.

*If your dog is startled by loud noises, you may prefer to celebrate the opening of the off-leash recreational area at Leathers Park at another time and spare her or him the gun salute. Otherwise, bring your dog and join your neighbors along with Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone and Ward 1 Alderman William Roche in honoring Ed Leathers with a celebration of open space!

For more information, check out the Lincoln Park neighborhood on Yahoo Groups!

More info from Cleo's owner:

She ran away from Fletcher Field near Packard St and Professors Row on Tufts Campus. Animal rescue in Medford and Somerville, and Tufts Campus security have been alerted and can help out if you see her.

This year the theme for ArtBeat is "Green," and there will be a scavenger hunt to showcase the many community organizations that are working together to make Somerville a more sustainable community. Wear green and/or dress your dog in green and participate in the Green Brigade Parade at 5:15!

Remember to get an ArtBeat 2008 dog tag for a $3 donation and help keep ArtBeat coming back to Davis Square every year!

ArtBeat is the Somerville Arts Council's annual arts festival. ArtBeat by Night is Friday, July 18 (Rain date: July 19); ArtBeat by Day is Saturday, July 19 (Rain Date: July 20). The full schedule for ArtBeat is available online from the Somerville Arts Council.

This is an excellent opportunity for residents to address our concerns about the livability of our City to the Mayor and the Aldermen.

In recent years, there have been only two budget items directly regarding dog ownership in the City:

• the City Clerk's proposed revenue from dog license and dog kennel fees and


• the line item in the Police Department salaries for the Animal Control Officer

In the 2009 Fiscal Year Budget, no fewer than five departments address matters of dog ownership including:

• City Clerk (dog licenses, dog-license database, and dog-kennel licenses)


• Executive Administration (soliciting public feedback on policies regarding off-leash dogs; facilitate problem-solving meetings on dog issues in Lincoln Park)


• Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (off-leash recreational areas)


• Department of Public Works (maintenance of the off-leash recreational area and parks that allow dogs)


• Police Department (Animal Control)

The Proposed Fiscal Year 2009 Municipal Budget can be downloaded from the City Of Somerville's website.

Monday, June 16 - Mystic River Reservation Master Plan Meeting
6 to 8 pm
Tufts Boat House, 300 River’s Edge Drive (177 Corporation Way), Medford, MA

Tuesday, June 17 - Assembly Square Land Swap Discussion
6:30 pm
Assembly Square Marketplace
Meet on the DCR pathway by the waterfront, across from the Christmas Tree Shops. Parking available at the Marketplace -- look for a white tent.

A great deal of open space in Somerville is part of the Mystic River Reservation and the property at Assembly Square. Somerville dog owners should be included among the many and diverse people who are able to enjoy this parkland! We need to attend these meetings to be included.

Mystic River Reservation

At a previous meeting about the Master Plan (November 2007), several people spoke of the needs of park users with dogs. Designated off-leash recreational areas will attract usage to lawn areas, an explicit goal of the Master Plan. Indeed, no other suggestion was proffered at the meeting to attract usage to underused lawn areas.

Senator Jehlen has secured $250,000 for the Mystic River Master Plan in the FY2007 budget: Come to the meeting and share with the Senator your ideas for improving recreational opportunities on the Mystic River parkland!

You may also contact the Senator directly:

Senator Patricia Jehlen
Room 513
State House
Boston 02133
617-722-1578
patricia.jehlen@state.ma.us

The official notice about the Mystic River Reservation Master Plan Meeting is available from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Assembly Square

For every one thousand Somerville residents, there is just about two-and-a-quarter acres of open space. The Assembly Square development will increases the residential capacity of our City. For every additional 1000 residents that Assembly Square will accommodate, the developers must create an additional 2.25 acres of open space. Otherwise we are losing ground!

For everyone who will live, work, and play at Assembly Square, and for the livability of our City, people must be welcome to enjoy the parkland at Assembly Square and the nearby DCR parkland with our pets. We need both

• designated areas where people can enjoy the benefits of socializing and exercising our dogs
• off-leash areas to accommodate uses that are incompatible or unsafe for unrestrained dogs where dogs must remain on leash.

East Somerville Main Streets distributed a flyer for the Assembly Square Landswap Discussion.

Spring finally arrived this year, just in time for the parade. It was a beautiful day—bright and sunny and warm.

The people who were out watching the parade were every bit the equal of the warm and beautiful day. The Memorial Day Parade reveals Somerville at it's finest. The whole town comes out to watch the parade; everyone is friendly and smiling.

Without a cloud in the sky, the asphalt along the parade route got pretty hot under our pups' paws, but we made new friends who helped our dogs beat the heat. At Pinball Plus (370 Highland Avenue), a very nice gentleman brought out his garden hose and let us hose down our dogs.

A couple of doors down, Kickass Cupcakes (378 Highland Avenue), put out buckets of water for the dogs. Kickass Cupcakes also donated mini pupcakes and mini cupcakes for the dogs and their owners who walked with som|dog in the Parade. The dogs wolfed down the carob and peanut-butter pupcakes after the parade.

Extra water for the dogs was donated by Dogma and Catma, too (321-325 Somerville Avenue).

Thanks to everyone who walked with som|dog, to Dogma (and Catma, too), to Kickass Cupcakes and to Pinball Plus. Thanks Bill (with Suki) for sharing your photos. Thanks Somerville, especially Frank Senesi, Director of Veterans' Services, for another great parade!

For the fourth year, the Somerville Dog Owners Group (som|dog) is walking our dogs in the City's Memorial Day Parade, Sunday, May 25.

Dogs that enjoy the company of other dogs, that are licensed and up-to-date on vaccinations, that walk well on a loose leash and that are in good physical condition are welcome!

The parade begins at City Hall. The parade route is 2.25 miles proceeding up Highland Avenue to Davis Square, then along Holland Street to Teele Square and continuing on Broadway to Veterans Memorial Cemetery in West Somerville.

Not everyone and not every dog can walk the whole route, especially if it is a warm day. If you and your dog cannot walk the whole route, you may join a group of reinforcements who will file in with som|dog when we get to Davis Square.

som|dog thanks dogma (and catma, too) who will be helping to carry our banner and pull the waggin' wagon with extra water for our dogs in the Memorial Day Parade. Dogma (and Catma, too) has Cool Pooch sport water bottles: you and your dog can drink from the same bottle without backwash!

For more information and to walk your dog in the Memorial Day Parade with the Somerville Dog Owners Group, please contact Michele at somdog * AT * somervilledog.com; 617-290-9107.

Please set aside five to ten minutes to take the Open Space & Recreation survey. There are twenty six questions. Your answers will make a difference in your life and in the life of your dog!

This is hugely important. Somerville dog owners are a significant park user group, but, since it's still largely illegal for us to use parks with our dogs, our needs are underrepresented in park programming and funding.

The last time the City conducted a survey of park users, only eleven respondents said that access for dog owners was important!

The survey is being conducted to complement the 2008-2013 Somerville Open Space & Recreation Plan. In addition to soliciting public feedback on the Plan through the survey, the City is also hosting a series of public meetings about the Plan. The third and final public meeting is scheduled for July.

Also of interest to dog owners:

• Piggy’s Pet Pottery (Pottery for Pets & People by Mia Carter, inspired by her pug, Piggy) is available at Stinky's Kittens & Doggies, Too in Ball Square.


• Diana Rice, an artist specializing in portraits and landscapes, is particularly interested in the relationships that humans have with their animal companions. Her studio, Diana Rice Fine Art, is located at 14 Ibbetson Street, near Pet Spa on Somerville Avenue.

According to Somerville Open Studios:

The city of Somerville boasts to having the largest density of artists within the state. In fact, the city's web site claims to have more artists per square mile than any other city in the U.S., except New York (which does not hold a citywide open studios). The research is yet to be done, but SOS may in fact be the only citywide open studios of this magnitude in the world, where artist sites are so close together that it is considered truly pedestrian-friendly. The SOS map booklet features indexes by both artist and by artistic medium, so that event-goers can pre-select and plan ahead their marathon walking tour.

The Somerville Dog Owners Group is proud to participate for the fourth year in a row in the City of Somerville's Annual Spring Cleanup! This year, we're going Beyond the Call of Doody: At clean-up sites designated by the City, we will be cleaning up doggie doody so that we can all enjoy the places where we walk and play together with our dogs.

The Citywide Spring Cleanup is Saturday morning, May 3, from 10:00 to noon (Rain Date: May 10). The City has designated sites in each Ward for volunteers to meet:

WARD 1: Capuano School tot lot at Glen Street
WARD 2: Union Square Parking Lot @ SCAT Building
WARD 3: High School Concourse
WARD 4: Winter Hill School
WARD 5: Community Path at Cedar Street
WARD 6: Davis Square, Statue Park
WARD 7: Fire Station, Teele Square

After the cleanup the City invites all volunteers to gather for a celebration with music and refreshments at Nunziato Field, adjacent to the Off-Leash Recreational Area, and an environmental education fair, the SomerGreen Festival, at the Community Growing Center on Vinal Avenue.

Following are some suggestions for Somerville dog owners who are willing to go Beyond the Call of Doody:

1. Bring a friend.


2. Dress for yard work. Wear gloves and bring a gardening spade and a supply of plastic bags. Bring hand-sanitizer and/or wipes.


3. At the meeting place for your neighborhood, introduce yourself to your Alderman and your School Committee member. Schmooze! The Citywide Spring Cleanup is just as much about meeting neighbors as it is about cleaning up our neighborhoods! Tell them that you are a dog owner, and that you will be cleaning up dog poop. Ask for suggestions. If your neighborhood is cleaning up a park, is there a particular area where poop is not picked up and accumulates? Are there streets in the neighborhood where there is a poop problem? While your at it, ask when your neighborhood is going to get an off-leash recreational area!


4. Don't get hurt. Find out what the protocol is if you find dangerous items, like syringes.


5. Clean up broken glass, too. Our dogs walk barefoot out there!


6. Stick with the crowds. Other volunteers will be working in groups, picking up trash, planting flowers, etc. As you do your doody-duty, introduce yourself to your neighbors who are also participating in the cleanup. Make sure you tell them your name, that you own a dog, and what you are doing. Schmooze!


7. Look for the camera. City Cable films the cleanup. Introduce yourself to the camera crew and tell them what you are doing.


8. Be sure to report what you accomplished. The City likes numbers: How many piles of poop did you pick up? How many plastic bags did you fill? Did you find anything interesting?


9. Wash up and come to Nunziato Field for a free barbecue after the cleanup. Stop by the som|dog booth at the SomerGreen Festival at the Community Growing Center and say "Hi!"


10. Go home and hug your dog. Tell him how you were out making Somerville a better place for him (or her)!

If you are a Somerville dog owner and you want more information about the Somerville Spring Cleanup, please contact somdog * AT * somervilledog.com.

More information about the Somerville Spring Cleanup is available on the City's website.

At the first meeting, Ellen Schneider, Landscape Project Manager, gave a presentation to introduce the plan and the public process. The public comments from the first meeting are also available from the City. The first public meeting for the Open Space and Recreation Plan was held on February 20 at the Tufts Administration Building.

The Open Space and Recreation Plan is a five-year city-wide action plan that is required for eligibility for certain state grants. It also serves as a public record of City open space data, goals, and strategic vision.

The City has identified the following goals for the Open Space and Recreation Plan:

• Renovate existing parks and open spaces to improve condition of Somerville’s recreational areas and ensure attractive, safe, and accessible public lands.
• Secure more land to expand Somerville’s total open space acreage and ensure access to open space in every neighborhood.
• Analyze and improve access for persons with disabilities to parks and open space, as part of ongoing ADA compliance.
• Increase tree canopy and green spaces to promote urban health and sustainability, and reduce the heat island effect.
• Increase Off-Leash Recreational Area (OLRA) opportunities throughout the city.
• Raise the bar for sustainable design and building practices in city parks and open space projects.
• Reduce brownfields and convert to more desirable uses.
• Improve accountability and set departmental vision through a series of strategic planning documents.

Come to the meeting and support public open space that serves the many and diverse needs of all residents.

Please make other arrangements for your canine companions: Dogs are not allowed in the Elizabeth Peabody House.

• Albion Park Presentation
• Grimmons Park Presentation

The City is accepting comments on these park renovation projects. Comments may be directed to Arn Franzen, Director of Parks and Open Space, City Hall, OSPCD, 93 Highland Avenue, Somerville, MA 02143; Phone: 617-625-6600, Ext. 2500; Email: afranzen *AT* ci.somerville.ma.us. Comments must be submitted by November 23.

In subsequent community meetings planned for Spring 2008 the City will present schematic designs for the parks.

Ten Hills is one of five neighborhoods for which the City has created ResiStat groups "to increase communication between residents and government officials in order solve local problems both quickly and efficiently." Check out the Ten Hills ResiStat Page!

The following neighborhoods also have ResiStat groups:

Perry Park (Ward 2)
Prospect Hill (Ward 3)
Davis Square (Ward 6)
Winter Hill East (Ward 4)

The above map shows parks and open space in the City of Somerville and the areas they serve by a five-minute walk or less. It is from a PowerPoint presentation concerning the development of the City's HUD Five Year Consolidated Plan, which was presented at public hearings in October 2007.

A Consolidated Plan is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in order for the City to qualify for CDBG, HOME and ESG funding.

CDBG funds can be used in a flexible manner for economic development, improvements to parks and open space, needed public services, and affordable housing projects and programs.
HOME Investment Partnership Funds can be used to further affordable housing programs and projects.
Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) Funds are to be used to support shelters and programs for homeless persons.

More information about the City's HUD 5-year Consolidated Plan is available from the City of Somerville's Office for Strategic Planning and Community Development.