Some locals say off-leash dogs are taking over Oakwood Park
A community conversation last Thursday about potential improvements for Oakwood Park quickly evolved into an argument between multi-generational families and relative newcomers about off-leash dogs running loose in the park and owners failing to clean up after them.
Longtime residents of the historically working-class and majority-minority enclave of Venice have complained before of wealthier and mostly Caucasian newcomers calling police about larger gatherings of locals in the park for no apparent reason other than racial prejudice. Now some worry they’re being pushed out of the space entirely in favor of transforming it into a dog park.
“If we sound angry it’s because we are. This is the last piece of property that black and brown people can come to and be together in this community,” asserted Diamond Mosley, a filmmaker who was raised in Oakwood.
A group of Oakwood dog owners — many but not all of them part of the last decade’s real estate boom — are participants in a Los Angeles Recreations and Parks pilot program that allows locals to exercise and train their dogs between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. daily at Oakwood Park.
But critics of the program say off-leash dogs now also have the run of the park on most afternoons. Although it didn’t come up at the meeting, East Venice residents near Penmar Park have complained to The Argonaut about not feeling safe among an increasing presence of off-leash dogs.
Alex Redd, a 15-year Oakwood resident who recently joined the program, said its intent is not to exclude and that participants are getting blamed for other people’s bad behavior.
“The classes are about socializing your dog and behavior training. We love our dogs, and we all try to keep them on leashes when we walk them in the park in the afternoon,” she said. “It would be really sad to lose this because others who aren’t in our group don’t clean up after their dogs.”
At one point, members of both groups shouted over each other after someone suggested banning off-leash dogs altogether. Recreation and Parks Department Senior Project Coordinator Nate Hayward found himself playing referee among more than 80 meeting attendees.
Hayward said the city is pursuing grants to beautify Oakwood Park, build new restrooms and water fountains, and possibly reconfigure the space to include a soccer field and baseball diamond. Adding exercise equipment and more parking are other ideas. The next meeting happens at 6 p.m. Wednesday (July 3) at the Oakwood Recreation Center, 767 California Ave., Venice.
I attended that meeting and the dog owners know that there are dog parks in the area, but don’t want to go because they are not kept clean instead of paying their $150 monthly fee for their so called dog training class (without professional dog trainers) pay the money to have the dog parks cleaned and not destroy the Oakwood park grass and cost the city more money every year to re-seed the grass. Its hypocritical they call the police on people utilizing the park legally instead calling it on themselves for not following the no dogs off leash law posted at the park.
The Westminster Dog Park, being on a hill, has one of the best views in Venice of the San Gabriel Mountains (spectacular when snow capped) and DTLA. Who gets to enjoy this view? Mostly, the dogs who get bussed in by dog daycare owners, packing in as many as 12 to 15 dogs per van load 4 vans at a time. At $25 per dog, they’re raking it in, all for a very nominal permit fee. Surely there is a better use for that park, just as there is for the Oakwood Park. How about turning the rarely used Centennial Park adjacent to the library located on the Venice Boulevard median. A perfect place for dogs to bark all they want as it would be drowned out by the traffic. Not to mention the stench.
Why would any responsible dog owner bring their pet to Oakwood to defecate and urinate on a field dedicated for softball, soccer and child engagement?
Can these individuals be this narcissistic that they see nothing selfish about using this facility for a dog, and not respecting the specific usage for children and young adults?
I too attended the meeting and there was universal opposition to this park becoming a haven for dog littering.
It is unhealthy and why there is not a violations employee stationed to serve tickets on the violators is disturbing.
Rabid owners of pets love their dogs much more than the human beings and children who are starved for open space.
I live across the street from the park and will include that I have two dogs that I keep on the leash. There is not a week that goes by where we don’t hear the sound of dogs fighting and then the screams/shrieks of owners because their dog has been attacked. Last week, a German Shepard and another dog attacked a mini-labradoodle. The mini-doodle was so scared it ran out of the park and several community people chased after with the owner to try and find the puppy. Now let me say again – I have two dogs but Oakwood is not meant to be a dog park. It’s a park for kids, Birthday parties, community events, but enough is enough. Either the police need to start ticketing at night or ban dogs off-leash all together. It’s devastating to hear the fights and the yelling each week but we enjoy kids learning how to play soccer, or people throwing a baseball around.