Opinion: Setting the Record Straight on the Proposed Dog Park

Letter to Jennifer Reyna, AH City Secetary:

Jennifer:
In the February issue of the Alamo Heights Advocate, there is a story tying our city's adopted Comprehensive Plan in 2009 . . . "and one of the components of the Plan was to build and maintain a Dog Park", (p. 4). As one who attended two Comprehensive Plan meetings, one of them being the last one at our high school, there was no Plan to build and maintain a dog park. As I've reported, I signed up for the first committee meeting, which only revealed that a decision had already been made by the City without citizen input. This is a fact.

The article being circulated throughout Alamo Heights is a gross distortion of what actually happened, and therefore, I am asking that the City of Alamo Heights clarify this misconception by sending out a notice to our citizens to this effect.

As you know, there is no record of any meeting by citizens to openly discuss all dog park options, and there are no records to show any Minutes taken, or any record which shows who recommended the only site being pushed down our throats. The City of Alamo Heights has endorsed no site, yet, by not correcting the record, the City is viewed as endorsing a site which has never allowed open participation by the citizens of Alamo Heights. The only meetings you have recognized in this regard are the ones you have called to have citizens react to someone's selected site, for which there is no record of any proceedings.

I remain hopeful that, consistent with your Code of Ethics, that you will step up and do the right thing and clear the record, to maintain the trust citizens place upon our professional staff and elected officials. Thanks.

Fernando Centeno