COMMERCE DOG PARK
When we built the Small Green Door in Commerce in 2008, we noticed the large open lot just down the street from the studio. After talking with our neighbors and community leaders, we discovered we weren’t the only ones in town who wanted a dog park.
DELIVERABLES:
Community Organization, Community Building, Local Activism
IT STARTED WITH A PETITION
Our studio developed a petition and posted it on the side of our building, waiting to see how passersby might respond. We were thrilled to find pages and pages of signatures on our paper petition, so we set up an online petition to garner even more support. After a few weeks, we had someone walk through our doors asking about the dog park. Turns out, that individual happened to be a City of Commerce Councilmember who wanted to help!
SECURING THE SPOT
After talking with her and a few other Commerce officials, we found out CalTrans owned the abandoned plot of land. We started negotiating with CalTrans and made a deal: they would lease the plot of land to the city for $1 a year until they continued highway construction.
What happened then? We met with Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia who has helped us communicate with the city.
WHAT'S NEXT?
We want to make sure the city sees all the support we’ve been getting from the community so they go through with this acquisition deal. That means, residents of Commerce: email your local representative and let them know you'd like to see the first dog park in East LA!
Once negotiations begin, we will launch a Kickstarter to help fund the building of the park. Think fences, benches, water- all the amenities for our dogs to run around freely. In the meantime, sign up for updates on all things dog park-related here!
