Ms. De Angelis,
please let’s not go on more about the dogs. Please let’s go on about other things that have been left aside because of the dogs and other distractions.
Now is not the time to discuss the dog issue, it has been discussed. Let the city enforce its many, many dog rules and can we please do something with the rest of the city, please?
Please don’t put us through this anymore, let’s get something done that makes sense in this challenging economic situation where so many people are in need. How will people heat their homes this winter? Will seniors and children have enough food?

Help!

“What’s Up,” in recent city council workshops, the council looked at other parks and voted to require leashes at Mill Creek Park and considered but then decided against requiring leashes at Bug Light. There was another task force maybe 4 years ago that looked at the whole system. The issue has been studied to death. But apparently some folks want to keep it going ...

Gee, “anonymous”, I recall that the task force report issued in October, 2008 was called the “Willard Beach Task Force”. The name alone doesn’t indicated that it dealt with the issues of all open spaces in the City and how those open spaces are used. It seems to me there are a lot of issues facing open spaces in the City and how those spaces are shared.

I truly hope that the post from Rosemarie DeAngelis is a prankster using her name. The dog issue has been studied, task-forced, and no referendumed to death (the task forces studied all areas). South Portland has some very serious issues, including its crumbling high school. It’s time to move on!!!

Ishmael…...weak attempt at humor aside….your point about dog owners not being the only ones that voted against the referendum is irrelevant since my comments involved IRRESPONSIBLE dog owners only. My comments had nothing to do with the will of the people. My problem from day one has been that there are too many irresponsible dog owners that completely disregard the concept of ‘mutual respect’. Assuming you do not fall into that category, then I commend you for your diligence and good will.

Thank you, Gary, for your very gracious statement. It is heartening to see how many South Portlanders voted on this issue, showing that people educated themselves enough to draw their own conclusions about the appropriate use of our public spaces. I think that I can speak for all SoPoDog members in saying that we are happy to have this behind us, so that we can return to our core mission of educating dog owners about responsible dog ownership in all public spaces in South Portland and beyond, not just on Willard Beach. We appreciate the faith that South Portland voters have shown in us, and we will work as hard on this as we did on the Share Willard Beach campaign to show that we deserve it. We (and our dogs) thank you, South Portland!

Rosemarie:

Congratulations on winning the seat on the City Council. I am sure you will use your experience as a mediator to bring various opinion groups together and work toward common ground to benefit the City. I sense that the City is becoming increasingly polarized, with people becoming increasingly caustic in their discussions.

While public referendum are good tools to settle difficult issues, when the votes are counted the voters need to come together, as Gary did in his post, and begin again to work toward acceptable solutions for other issues.

Again, congratulations and best of luck.

I would like to thank Gary for his gracious concession. He said he would accept the results of the peoples’ vote, and his comments would confirm that. I also think the Share Willard Beach group for wanting to continue to work for safety and cleanliness on our beach.

My hope is for mutual respect in this process. There continues to be work that needs to be done—let’s sit at the table and cooperatively find ways to continue to share ALL our open spaces with ALL residents. As I have continued to say, the beach is only one of our spaces—there is a bigger picture out there. Let’s look together.

Sincerely,
Rosemarie De Angelis

With the issue of Willard Beach aside for a moment, I hope to see conversations continue about the need for leashed dogs in places MORE THAN the Greenbelt. There are those of us who are fearful, uncomfortable, unsteady or undesiring of dogs. I hope we are not done talking just because this didn’t pass. There is more work to do!!

Rob,

YOUR use of CAPITAL letters is a bit HYPERBOLIC!!!

Dog owners are not the only ones who voted against the shameful referendum. 

You lost, and I can only hope that you won’t go back to doing your business in town.