Dog Leash Laws in Bryan Park

This article was published in the Herald Times Hotline column yesterday (2/14/08). Be aware that dogs are required to be on leash at all times. The article follows:


Dogs gone wild vs. the leash and collar set

QUESTION: Our family has a complaint. For several years, there seems to have been an unwritten relaxing of the leash requirement for dogs at Bryan Park. When we try to walk our dog, the loose dogs often charge at our dog (sometimes in aggression, sometimes because they want to play), making it very difficult to control our dog. The dog owners often act as if their unrestrained pets are a completely normal situation, and we’re the crankpots. Recently we counted 13 dogs running loose. The situation has gotten so bad that our kids can’t safely walk the dog. How can we get the leash ordinance enforced at Bryan Park?

K.C., Bloomington

ANSWER: Hotline contacted Mick Renneisen, director of Bloomington Parks and Recreation, and Laurie Ringquist, Bloomington Animal Care and Control officer. The city has posted signs reminding park visitors that dogs are required to be on a leash, and animal control officers patrol the park at random times, issuing warnings and tickets as appropriate.

Ringquist said if you see an unleashed dog, call Animal Control at 349-3492 and “we will do our best to get there as soon as possible.” Often, by the time an officer arrives, the animal is leashed or gone. But if there seems to be a pattern as to days or times, please report it to Animal Control so the park can be patrolled more frequently at those times.

Bryan Park Creek Naturalization

BPNA received a HAND Neighborhood Improvement Grant to plant native species along the creek in Bryan Park.

Many, many thanks to the 40 or so volunteers who worked extremely hard to get 3,100 seedlings planted on April 8-9, 2006.

Download a partial list of the native plants used in this project (MS Word).

Bryan Park neighbors helping to place 2,000 plants

By Lanetta J. Williams
Hoosier Times
April 9, 2006

Reprinted with thanks to the Bloomington Herald-Times

BLOOMINGTON — Jim Opiat didn’t mind the muddy knees or cold air that accompanied his spring gardening Saturday. He knew his hard work, and that of about 40 other volunteers, would pay off — in three-to-five years.

"I bring my grandkids over here all the time," he said. "So I’m looking forward to saying, ‘Hey, I planted this.’"

Opiat is one of many from the Bryan Park Neighborhood Association participating in planting more than 2,000 native Indiana plants purchased with a $17,063 Neighborhood Improvement Grant awarded by the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission for the Bryan Park Creek Naturalization Project.

The plants are being planted along the eastern portion of a creek at the park to improve wildlife habitat, reduce the need for mowing, and stabilize the creek bank. Both flowering and nonflowering species will bring color and variety to the creek, officials say. Species to be planted include black-eyed Susan, fire pink, spicebush, coneflower, palm sedge and beak grass.

Jon Behrman, with the firm Eco Logic, has spent years designing and studying the project. His group drilled the planting holes and guided the placement of plants from a nursery in Muncie.

Since spring 2003, Eco Logic, along with the association and the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, have planted similar flowers along the creek that stretches between Woodlawn Avenue on the east and Henderson Street on the west.

Though much of what was previously planted now looks to some like overgrown weeds, he says flowers will begin to bloom and take color over the next several weeks. Behrman said the benefits go further than just having pretty plants to look at.

"Each of these plants has a relationship with a bird or an insect," Behrman said. "That’s the kind of relationship we’re trying to bring back to this site."