TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Barking Up The Right Tree

CANDACE C. MUNDY/TAMPA TRIBUNE

County officials cut the ribbon Monday morning for the official opening of the new Carolyn Meeker Dog Park, 102 First Avenue SW, in Lutz. Youths who started the project to get the dog park built when they were students at Lutz Elem. School were honored guests at Monday's event, along with current Lutz Elem. School 5th grade class of teacher Judy Alvarez. Alvarez is speaking at the podium as "Puppy", a 9 year old long-haired Daschund waits patiently for the park to open.

ADVERTISEMENT

By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

Updated: 11/01/2007 09:45 pm

LUTZ - The aluminum gates swung open, and a bunch of furry, four-legged friends filed in.

Shetland sheepdogs and Labrador-chow mixes raced to the left. Smaller canines such as dachshunds and Yorkshire terriers shuffled to the right.

Monday marked the official opening of the Carolyn Meeker Dog Park in the downtown historical district.

Hillsborough County officials celebrated the transformation of the existing passive park into a playground for canines with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The nearly 2-acre park at 102 First Ave. SW is a block from the library, train depot, civic center and memorial park.

The $150,000 park features fenced areas for large and small dogs, benches, a picnic shelter, water fountains for pets and pet owners and receptacles for plastic waste bags.

Park officials have yet to add a permanent restroom and a nature and walking trail. Both are scheduled to be completed by January.

The county's other three dog parks are in Mango, at West Park in the Town 'N Country area, and a new one in the Logan Gate subdivision in the Carrollwood area.

The dog park idea came about 17 months ago when students in Judy Alvarez's fifth-grade class at Lutz Elementary School approached county commissioners with the dog park proposal.

The project came at the right time. County parks officials were under pressure to close the existing dog park at Lake Park because of environmental concerns from St. Petersburg, which owns the land.

Alvarez said she initially tried to steer students away from the dog park, but students were persistent.

"I wanted them to do something that could be completed," she said. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think this would be complete. This is awesome."

Seventh-grader Chris Cerreta, a member of the fifth-grade class proposing the dog park, said students left the county meeting in May 2006 thinking they were finished.

"We thought it was just something to keep us busy," he said of the project.

Cerreta said the dog park was consistently the top choice among classmates.

We "wanted to do the dog park from the beginning, because lots of people were just doing things to help their school, and we wanted to do something to help the community," he said.

A small group of Alvarez's former fifth-grade class, as well as her current fifth-graders, attended the grand opening ceremony. Making improvements to the dog park will be a continuing project for the fifth-graders, Alvarez said.

Alvarez said she learned a lesson from the dog park project as well.

"You never know what you can do until you try," she said.

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT