Those in charge of the Town Square Park here in Reston Town Center should remove all cigarette butt receptacles from the Park. Or, failing that, they should remove as many as possible, beginning with those farther west.
I want the ash receptacles removed from the Park because I believe they encourage smoking in the park. Each additional cigarette butt receptacle helps send the message that it is completely okay to smoke in the park, especially near a receptacle. Moreover, those receptacles toward the west end of the Park could result in smoke entering homes in the nearby condominiums when the weather is suitable for open windows.
Does anyone doubt the danger of second-hand smoke? And some people find cigarette smoke repulsive regardless of whether it is dangerous. I don’t see why non-smokers in the Park or nearby homes should have to put up with tobacco smoke originating in the Park.
I first noticed a cigarette butt receptacle in the Park a couple months ago, in the southeast corner of the Park. A week or so later, I saw a second ash receptacle 50 feet or so west of the first. A couple weeks after that, I saw a third toward the northwest corner of the Park. Today I saw a fourth, also toward that northwest corner of the Park. I am beginning to wonder how many cigarette butt receptacles must be in the Park before those in charge of the Park think there are enough.
I am NOT suggesting prohibition of smoking in the Park. But I am requesting removal of the ash receptacles to avoid the appearance of approval for smoking in the Park. If there must be any cigarette butt receptacles in the Park, the number should be one, two at the most, located at the far southeast corner of the Park.
If you wish to comment, you can email me at rasmussen305@gmail.com or, better yet, please register in my forum and then post your comment there in this thread: http://mstcuoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=19&page=1
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Town Square Park: Going to the Dogs?
Dogs have been defecating and urinating throughout the Town Square Park since it opened a few years ago. Signs in the Park require dog walkers to pick up feces their dogs drop, but my wife and I see more and more dog feces left in the park. We find such droppings particularly annoying in the large grassy area in the southwest corner of the Park and on the concrete sidewalks in the park.
Dog feces on the sidewalks annoy us because we have to watch carefully to avoid stepping in them and then tracking them into our home. Dog feces in the large grassy area annoy us because, in nice weather, we see many people--especially children--running, playing, and rolling in the grass in the same spots where we have seen dogs defecating and urinating. That can’t be good from a public health standpoint.
Those in charge of the park are considering creating a dog relief area (or “drop zone”) in the little-used northwest corner of the park. People walking dogs in the Park would take their dogs first to that dog relief area before taking their dogs anywhere else in the Park. If dogs must be allowed to use the park, this seems like an improvement, but in my view, dogs should be permitted nowhere in the park except in that dog relief area.
At a meeting on the issue last night, there was controversy regarding where in the Park the dog relief area should be located. A sizable faction of the people at that meeting supported locating that dog relief area in the west third of the large grassy area in the southwest corner of the Park. As the lesser evil, I would prefer continuing to let dogs relieve themselves throughout the Park rather than making a third of that much-used grassy area into the dog relief area.
If you have comments on this issue, please register in my forum and make your comments in this thread: http://mstcuoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=18&page=1 Or, if you prefer, email your comments to me at rasmussen305@gmail.com.
Dog feces on the sidewalks annoy us because we have to watch carefully to avoid stepping in them and then tracking them into our home. Dog feces in the large grassy area annoy us because, in nice weather, we see many people--especially children--running, playing, and rolling in the grass in the same spots where we have seen dogs defecating and urinating. That can’t be good from a public health standpoint.
Those in charge of the park are considering creating a dog relief area (or “drop zone”) in the little-used northwest corner of the park. People walking dogs in the Park would take their dogs first to that dog relief area before taking their dogs anywhere else in the Park. If dogs must be allowed to use the park, this seems like an improvement, but in my view, dogs should be permitted nowhere in the park except in that dog relief area.
At a meeting on the issue last night, there was controversy regarding where in the Park the dog relief area should be located. A sizable faction of the people at that meeting supported locating that dog relief area in the west third of the large grassy area in the southwest corner of the Park. As the lesser evil, I would prefer continuing to let dogs relieve themselves throughout the Park rather than making a third of that much-used grassy area into the dog relief area.
If you have comments on this issue, please register in my forum and make your comments in this thread: http://mstcuoa.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=18&page=1 Or, if you prefer, email your comments to me at rasmussen305@gmail.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
