My goal is to continue to protect the beauty and richness we have in Minnetonka. To leave Minnetonka, and county or region better than we found it. Of course our city council can really only directly effect Minnetonka so that is my focus.
But why run for City Council? After attending city council meetings and following their actions for 18 months it didn’t seem like to council was really caring about their citizens equally.
In my opinion the City should do its best to never interfere with people’s right to live their lives the way we choose.
That does not mean the City should allow people to harm others or degrade our environment, but there needs to be real evidence and proof of harm. In the hospital we use evidenced based care. The city council has done the exact opposite. For example, they made off leash dog walking illegal in all of Minnetonka. They have not requested greater details regarding dogs and complaints or issues.
If the City looks for harm, it should also look for benefits. A one sided inquiry is not enough. Off leash dog laws are only one “small” issue maybe but if this how they treat residents in one issue it does say something.
Someone asked where the $500K cost for Purgatory park fencing came from, so this is a screenshot from the meeting. This is a preliminary number and didn’t include any ground work. The area mentioned would require lots of ground work. Plus we should be able to agree that government projects almost always end up considerably more than the preliminary estimates.
This is only 1 of 2 areas they proposed. Also there are no ADA features included, so much for inclusion and equity for dog walkers.
I know some people have been bitten by dogs, that can be super traumatizing, to mildly annoying. There have been very few dog bites in Minnetonka parks documented. Maybe there are more than reported. That is a problem They should be reported and the dog and owner need to be managed, maybe education and training, maybe penalties and prohibition from off leash areas or any public areas, even on a leash. Each case by case. But laws shouldn’t be made based on imagined fears or situations.
The number of people injured by alcohol is huge and very costly to society. Is a blanket prohibition where we want to go? I am sure most of could think of something other people do that make us uncomfortable, put us at risk or harm us. Other people could probably do the same without actions.
Our city’s online information system is pretty good and you can see how this all rolled out if you like.
I was shocked by the process and results so far. Minnetonka had been allowing residents to walk their dog in the vast majority of the city as long as their dog was well controlled and not disrupting the peaceful lives of others. Now it is illegal for any dog to be off leash anywhere but your own property.
Of course dogs had always needed to be on leash in almost all parks like Big Willow or Lone Lake for example, basically anyplace where there might be lots of people or traffic.
Thankfully rough trails in the woods meadows, in the heart of nature, off leash walks had been allowed for off leash, under good control.
Last year, cold turkey all off leash walks were made illegal.
Was there a recent surge in dog attacks, injuries, lawsuits? Not at all.
It’s almost like they called in the National Guard when crime rates are dropping.
Now there is promise of future designated off leash areas. I am grateful that the City Council has shown some sensitivity to this rather large segment of the public.
Again, There was no clear data ever offered, the closest thing to a public reason was that other cities didn’t allow off leash dogs. Of course part of what makes Minnetonka special is all our open spaces and the freedom it can provide. However it seems a small group pressured the council into ending a 30-40 year history of beautifully uneventful daily enjoyment of our parks by a huge number of residents and visitors. Since this became public knowledge it has become clear there are a huge number of the residents and neighbors that love walking their dogs off leash. Of course their dogs love it too!
This is just one example of lack of consideration of the public by the council as a group. It seems they want to build the dog park they want and will never use for dog owners that don’t want the park they want to build and very likely will never if ever use at all.