DOG PARK: With all the empty spaces  in an around Bradford, why
can’t we have a dog park?

Most cities have these enclosed areas which give dogs a place to
stretch their legs. Other than a fence, the only “amenities” are
plastic-bag dispensers for owners to clean up behind their animals.
One we saw near Lakeland, Fla., separated the large dogs from the
smaller varieties — a good idea given some dogs proclivity for
exuberant play. Water was available for dogs and humans, too.

We all know that walking your dog in Bradford City parks is
strictly verboten. It’s not the animals’ fault but humans’ too
ignorant to clean up after their pets.

Perhaps some local animal lovers group could take on such a
project. Certainly, the city has a lot of parcels of unoccupied
land in various locations around town.

This leads to our next item…

CRAPPY NEWS: Betty Carr of Emery Towers sweeps and cleans up the
downtown streets but feels pretty helpless when it comes to Pine
Street.

She stopped by the other day and complained about the volume of
dog crap and her inability to handle this kind of clean-up.

Perhaps, with a dog park, people could keep their dogs off
downtown streets.

Betty is not the first one to complain about this problem. It’s
embarrassing for our so-called historic district especially when
there’s laws on the books that should keep this situation from
developing in the first place.

So who is in charge with enforcing the city ordinances?

We certainly hope it’s  not the city police which is already
faced with staff cutbacks because of the city’s financial woes.
Somehow, this seems low on the list of priorities.

We remember reading about a new downtown group being organized.
Maybe this would be something its members could address.

On Jan. 1, as part of a New Year’s Day resolutions column, we
also  had suggested that waiting for government to solve our
problems — be that in Bradford or in Washington, D.C. — might not
be the way to go.

Individual responsibility would erase this problems and, of
course, we don’t mean for the dogs but their owners. Clean up after
your pet! Store owners shouldn’t have to take care of this problem
left on their doorsteps on a daily basis.