Oh, wait--that wasn't an episode of Parks and Rec. That is the basic story of the past few years of the Shreveport Dog Park. The Shreveport Dog Park Alliance (Facebook) has worked hard for several years now to bring a dog park to Shreveport, and the events that have unfolded seem ripe for adaptation to a TV sitcom. Do you remember the first season of Parks and Rec? When Leslie and co. work hard to turn an abandoned lot--and it's giant pit--into a park? It seemed like a great idea, an open and shut project for Ms. Knope. However, as she soon found out, nothing is that easy in local government.
In Shreveport, Mayor Cedric Glover has become the primary obstacle to the dog park. The funds have been secured from the Red River Waterway Commission (read: not costing the city a dime), the people have demanded it, and the City Council has approved it. Why is Glover not on board? Mainly, he wants the Commission's funds to be used for other riverfront improvements.

(The Mayor and City Council eyeing the $280,000 appropriated for the dog park).
As seemed destined from the start, the matter has now headed to the courts. The Alliance has filed a lawsuit and Mayor Glover has been compelled to testify at a hearing as to why he has yet to act on the wishes of the city and approve the dog park measure. Seriously, it sounds like a TV plot. The city of Shreveport is actually about to go to court and expend who knows how much in legal fees to defend an indefensible decision to reject free money in exchange for building a dog park that has almost universal community support.
So why do we need a dog park?
In the current age of people clamoring for smaller government and budget constraints, it can be easy to say no to a dog park.

(How park opponents view spending money on a dog park)
After all, dogs can't vote, so who cares about them. Well, the park isn't for the dogs (it is, of course, but not just them), it's for the dog owners. Dog owners care greatly about their dogs, and having a park to run, play, and socialize is great for the dog's overall health. The dog park helps improve physical, mental, and emotional health for dogs. It's also a great place for dog owners to socialize and gather. You build the park for the dog owners, and there are a lot of them (and a lot of voters).
But you aren't even building it for the votes. You're building it for the people, to get them to live here.
The dog park has become a central part of a modern urban landscape. Having one shows that, as a city, you're serious about joining the 21st Century, that you're serious about attracting young, intelligent, talented individuals to your city, and that you know what it takes to appeal to the hundreds of thousands of college graduates entering the workforce and looking for work. It may have been that many years ago, college graduates found a job, and the job determined where they would live. This isn't the case today. More and more it seems that young adults choose where they want to live, move there, and then find a job. Ask any business owner today what you can do to create a more business friendly environment, and one of the top answers will be, "Make this place more attractive to young adults and recent grads."
Shreveport could be a great option for many recent college grads. As discussed in my post on civic pride, Shreveport has a lot going for it: good weather, low cost of living, good nightlife, grad school options, the River, and a location that makes it easy to get away to Dallas, Houston, or Austin for a long weekend. On the surface, I think Shreveport would be a natural destination for any recent grads in North Louisiana, East Texas, Arkansas, and even parts of Oklahoma. However, our location also puts us in competition with some real heavyweights: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Baton Rouge, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans are all within a six hour drive, and all have tons of appeal to the same demographic that Shreveport should be striving to attract. And these places have great dog parks.
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Auditorium Shores Dog Park in Austin, Texas. Mr. Glover, what part of this picture do you not want in Shreveport? |
Would all those potential new residents have dogs? No, probably not. Probably not even half. But that's not the point. The dog park is an integral part of the modern city, and even people without dogs can recognize that something is missing.