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The ground is a little rough from construction and hard as a rock from the weather.  There are also a lot of rocks and some broken glass, which wasn't unexpected given how long it's been closed.

However, there are no amenities, like benches.  This contradicts what an official from Parks told us we would get if there was a renovation of the dog run.  It looks like all we got was a fence, one less tree and a narrower area for the dogs to play in.

I received this in the Barks mailbag today:

Hi there!! My name is Regan Jaye Fishman, convention director for the  
historic Brooklyn Lyceum in Park Slope.

I just wanted to give you a heads up that, as part of our 3rd annual Lyceum  
Holiday Marketplace, this coming Dec 18th and 19th, we will be offering pet  
photos with Santa Paws!!!

From 12pm until 6, market going mutts and their people can meet up with Santa  
Paws, dress up in fun holiday costumes and take a fun photo to send to  
friends or just keep as a treasured memory. Photos are $10 or FREE w/proof of  
a market purchase (even if its just a postcard we want to make sure people  
stop by and see our hardworking local vendors before taking off into the  
night)

There will be treats and water for the pups (Cats are absolutely welcome too  
just be aware they may kill you in your sleep if you try to dress them up)
and LOTS of fun activities for the People (safe cracking! batting cages...and  
IPAD raffle!!)


Regan Jaye Fishman
Brooklyn Lyceum

Kentucky Violated NCAA Rules While Recruiting Basketball-Playing Dog

This won't be news to those who have visited the dog run over the past few days and seen the signs posted there.

Given the rapid pace of the construction fence crew this afternoon there's a possibility that today is the last day the Owls Head Park dog run will be open in 2010. 

It's a good news/bad news thing.  On the one hand, after all these years the Parks Dept will finally replace the dilapidated fences and broken gates at the dog run.  The bad news is that the dog run is definitely secondary to Parks' plan to repair the drainage issues with the bike path.  There's no mention of including any features taken for granted at other NYC dog runs, like access to water, regrading/resurfacing or even benches.

Officially, the NYC Parks Department is calling this capital project "Construction Of Greenway Connector From Intersection Of Colonial Rd & Wakeman Pl To Shore Rd".  The plans include new chain link fences (four sides) and gates for the dog run, although I suspect we're getting that only because the contractor needs the dog run for parking and materials.  More bad news: this is also going to take quite a bit longer than replacing a few hundred feet of fence.

Also, the Parks Dept gave themselves quite a bit of wiggle room wiith their reopening target of "Winter 2011".  Is that January 2011, as in eleven months from now, or December 2011, as in 22 months? Twenty-two months is like 12 dog years!