Dog Owners Meet With City Lawyers Over Schuylkill Banks' Temporary Dog Run
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Dog lovers and their lawyers have met with city attorneys to resolve issues about the size of a temporary dog-walking area at Schuylkill Banks. The temporary dog area is required to allow construction to get under way on a pedestrian bridge at the Locust Street opening of the park.
Both sides are trying to avoid dragging the case into court.
Since the existing dog run will be closed during the 16-month construction of the connector bridge over the CSX rail tracks, along the Schuylkill River near 25th and Locust Streets, pet owners have been howling about what they view as an inadequate temporary dog area. They say it was only 12 percent the size of the current dog run.
Through talks with city officials, they were able to get it expanded to 40 percent, but they're hoping the makeshift dog park will ultimately be the same size as the original (see previous story).
Joanna Cronquist, who walks Louey, a malamute-husky mix, on a leash, says many folks bought homes in the area with the dog run in mind.
"We need to keep dogs where it's safe for everybody, and where they could safely run," she says.
Nicole Brewer reports...
The city also says it will look further into minimizing the number of mature shade trees that would have to come down to make way for the construction of the bridge.
Reported by Steve Tawa, KYW Newsradio 1060
