Rent.com has compiled its list of the Top 10 Dog-Friendly Cities in America. The scores were based on factors like rental inventory, walkability, pet care costs, dog parks, and other dog-friendly establishments and events, according to the California City News.
As you might imagine Santa Ana did not make that list. Our city has zero dog parks. But here is how the other cities shape up:
- San Diego – There are 16 off-leash dog parks where man’s best friend can stretch his legs, play and run around.
- Portland – There are 32 off-leash dog parks.
- Seattle – There are 11 off-leash dog parks.
- Chicago – There are 18 off-leash dog parks.
- Orlando – There are seven different off-leash dog parks.
- Austin – There are 18 off-leash dog parks.
- San Francisco – 56 parks!
- l am surprised that Denver was not on the list as they have at least a dozen dog parks
But Santa Ana has none. I still think the Lawn Bowling Center at Santiago Park would make for a great dog park. There are perhaps two Santa Ana residents who lawn bowl there. Everyone else lives outside of our city and should not be using this park in the first place for their lawn bowling.
Santa Ana Parks and Rec Director Gerardo Mouet said a few years ago that he would study this issue but of course we still have made zero progress and our city probably will never have a dog park, which is a shame considering how many folks in town love their dogs and would love to have somewhere in town to go with them.
It is sad that our residents have to go to Orange and Costa Mesa to enjoy a decent dog park. Even Irvine has one! But not Santa Ana…
That’s because Santa Ana city hall could careless about dogs or animals in general. The city only employes 3 animal control officers to enforce animals laws, so go figure – not surprised. The city is running with stray dogs!
Dog Parks???? We are worried about the lack of dog parks in Santa Ana?? Please!! We have bigger problems!! Have you seen how many transients we have everywhere? Most of these are early release inmates that are generating calls for service for the police. On that same topic SAPD is down 100+ officers and are not hiring anyone. In the meantime officers are retiring early and transferring to other departments….And then we hire a new school superintendent for $300k a year plus other goodies!! Really? And we are worried about not enough dog parks? That is not the reason why Santa Ana is not on top of that list…PLEASE people!!!
We already wrote about the Superintendent and we cover the crime issue daily – to an extent not seen on any other blogs or media sites here in Santa Ana.
The point of this article is that there is more to good living and that is quality of life. And our City Council is as asleep at the wheel on that issue as they are on the crime issue.
More human parks before dog parks.
there is already a dog park across the creek that is under utilized by the SAPD. make it a joint use park.
Admin, Don’t get ahead of yourself.
STEP ONE: Clear Downtown SA of any Latino owned business (but, keep the “flavor” to suck the dollars from the populous).
STEP TWO: GENTRIFY SAID NEIGHBORHOOD WITH “Modern Locals”.
STEP THREE: When the condo owners move in, the same political subjects (council) will turn on Latino Health Access and such organizations and begin to convert “people parks” to “dog parks”. Because the people who live in DTSA vote.
STEP FOUR: The current council majority gets termed out, escape blame.
Epilouge: Overvalued real estate corrects, the parks become eyesores, dog-sh!t filled corner lots, the condo’s filled with a new wave of under-paid foreign workers. Jewish, Asian and Middle Eastern investors snatch up “high return” under-valued real estate as rental investment vehicles. and the people get FU$&ed.
It is a good time to start a property management firm catering to the lower class Latino’s (with and without dogs), but cater to wealthy outside investors. THAT’S THE REAL FUTURE OF DTSA.