Back Where It All Begins
The Sunnyside United Dog Society began as a group of people who met in Torsney Park/Lodati Playground (Skillman Avenue between 41st and 43rd Streets) in Sunnyside, Queens each evening, from 8:30-9:30pm, in the months following 9/11.
What started out as a few dog owners looking for a little sense of ‘community’ from their neighborhood, not to mention some exercise for their dogs, grew into S.U.D.S.
Founding members include: Joe Dineen & Jen Crammer, Ford Trojanowski, Nancy McGowan, Jen LiMarzi, Juan Arache, Jimmy and Ingrid Underwood, Nicola and Tracie Libonati, Gregory Ivan Smith & Michael Fitzpatrick, Fay Caesarano, Nora Connolly and Jennifer Clark & David Van Pelt.
Where We Went From There
Over the course of the next 5 years S.U.D.S. grew into a community organization that has:
Marched for 4 straight years in the Sunnyside St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Organized several ‘Pick up the Poop’ Days to teach local dog owners of the importance of cleaning up after their dog’s waste.
Rescued many local stray and abandon dogs.
Helped to educate the public about dogs, dog training and owner responsibilities.
Made a major effort to clean up the trash in the park each evening left behind my other park goers.
Gathered 1000 signatures from the people of Sunnyside who were in favor of a dog run.
Convinced our local community board and area politicians of the importance of having a dog run in Sunnyside.
More importantly, SUDS has helped to create the feeling of a true community for many people in Sunnyside. Friendships have developed, people have dated, weddings have taken place and children have been introduced to our group: The Next Generation of SUDS.
Who We Are
SUDS members come from all backgrounds, ages, races, creeds and socio-economic levels. We have teachers, bankers, actors, stay @ home parents, local business owners, policemen, postal workers, an orchestra conductor, people who work in radio, TV, music, movies, computers, construction, customer service, publishing, lighting design, architecture, culinary arts, high school, college and graduate school students, accountants, retirees, photographers…the list goes on and on…..We are a true snapshot of what NYC is all about.
We are not transients in the neighborhood; many of us own coops, condos, houses and local businesses. Some people have lived in Sunnyside for generations. Thus, our dog run will always have an army of folks to take care of it.
Also, one of the great things about organizations like ours is that we look after one another. We watch one another’s dogs when we go on vacation and don’t want to leave them cooped up in a kennel. We also help each other when we are sick, need someone to listen to us in good times and bad. We ARE a family….that just happens to have a huge pack-o-dogs in tow!
Safety
One of SUDS chief goals from the beginning was to find a safe space for our dogs to play. While we were able to use a lot of the space during the late Fall and throughout the Winter/early Spring, we were pinched for space in the nice weather by the large number of people playing soccer, volleyball, baseball, basketball, football, not to mention other people utilizing the park for jogging, bike riding and other assorted activities.
Safety has always been a key issue for SUDS. The park could be dangerous for our dogs due to the plethora of broken glass, human waste and food left behind by other people that used the park. Also, a dog run would ensure that a dog could never escape the park. Fireworks, thunder and other loud noises can easily scare dogs. Couple this with the fact that there are several exit points within the park and it’s easy to see how a pup could escape. This has happened on several occasions. Luckily, for us, a dog has never been fatally injured running scared from the park.
Even though we made the best effort possible to keep the park clean and safe we quickly realized that if we were to continue to enjoy using the park we needed a dog run.
A dog run would ensure that the dogs were safe @ all times and the people in the park would be safe to do as they please without the fear of encountering a strange, but harmless, canine. We understood that some people were afraid of dogs and to be fair we always tried to limit the interaction our dogs would have with such folks.
We have always believed that our presence in the park, on a nightly basis, kept it safe from vandals, hooligans, ne’er-do-wells and visigoths. Our daily presence in the park, with a large ‘pack’ of dogs, has seemed to make others less likely to commit crimes in the area around the park. This is something that we are very proud of. We believed that having an official dog run would only make the park that much safer.
Education
Education has also been a very important component to our plans for a dog run. We would invite dog trainers and canine behaviorists to offer advice and tips on properly training our pups. A well trained dog is a happier dog. As we all cannot help but notice, there are too many people in Sunnyside who do not pick up after their dogs. Having the dog run would help us to educate these people and hopefully get them to realize their responsibilities as members of the community.
While Manhattan is much smaller in both size and population in comparison to Queens, it is blessed with many dog runs. Queens, on the other hand, has very few. Many people in Sunnyside have dogs and we just didn’t have a safe place to take them to exercise and to socialize. Socialization of dogs is a very important part of dog training and without a proper dog run it is very difficult to completely socialize your pooch.
Our First Attempts At Seeking Approval
Convincing Community Board #2 in Sunnyside became our main goal. We had two initial meetings with them. After the first meeting with the community board we thought that it was important to also meet with Queens Councilman Eric Gioia. Ford Trojanowski, Gregory Ivan Smith and Rick Duro went to his office seeking his thoughts and support for a dog run in Sunnyside. Mr. Gioia was quite supportive of our efforts and made contact with the powers that be in the Parks Department on our behalf. We then had a second meeting with a smaller, invitation only, meeting with CB #2. James Underwood and Rick Duro gave a nearly 2 hour presentation.
While CB #2 was impressed with our efforts, they had several reservations about a dog run in Lodati Playground. This was the spot we had been pushing for from the beginning. They felt that there was not a lot of open space as it was for people to use and creating a dog run would take away much needed park space in Sunnyside. Also, they were concerned about the spot we were seeking within Lodati Playground. The proximity of the playground to the dog run made them, understandably, nervous. Also, a dog run was built in Doughboy Park in Sunnyside a number of years earlier, but due to several factors (the location on a steep incline, the fact that the park was much too small to be an effective dog run and the eventual dismantling of the group and run itself) it fell into disuse.
They wanted to make sure that we were a solid community group that was here to stay and would take care of the park for years to come. They were for a dog run in Sunnyside; we just had to find a good spot for it. CB #2 was very supportive of us and members such as President Joe Conley and Mr. Pat O’Brien gave us encouragement to keep on trying, as, eventually they knew we could find a compromise.
Alternate Sites
We looked into privately owned land in our neighborhood including some owned by Amtrak, but they did not seem keen on us using their small strip of land running parallel to the tracks. We also made queries about other plots of land, including a small space next to a church on Skillman, but never had our calls returned. Even though we were meeting roadblock after roadblock, we refused to give up. We knew that there had to be space for us somewhere within Sunnyside.
Thinking Outside The Box
Major work and construction began on Lodati Playground in April of 2006. Realizing that the adjacent Torsney Park could be next, SUDS member Rick Duro organized the masses into one last great push for a SUDS dog run within our local park. He believed that if we did not get on the Parks Department’s plans now that we would never get the opportunity to once any possible construction started on Torsney Park.
We thought that the best area to utilize was along the 5 large trees in the back of the park as they were out of the way and the trees interfered with any ball playing. We met to discuss the matter with Community Board member Mr. Pat O’Brien, he instead recommended that the current basketball courts be moved out and that the dog run be placed behind it. We loved the idea!!
In the past we had been afraid of ‘rocking the boat’, so to speak. We wanted a dog run, but had always hoped to get it with the least amount of disturbance to the community. In the end the idea of moving the courts out 25-30 feet was the plan we had all been searching for.
The Campaign For A Dog Run
With this information SUDS member James Underwood created giant placards with a beautiful blue print of what the park would look like with the dog run in that exact spot. These plans were a very important part of our planned presentation to Community Board #2 in June 2006.
Rick mobilized the troops and gathered well over a 100 names/email addresses and phone numbers of people within Sunnyside who owned dogs. He walked around for weeks with a clipboard trying to convince people why it was important for them to attend the last Community Board meeting before the summer recess. In the end, upwards of 60 SUDS people attended the meeting, with 15-20 getting up and speaking at the podium. The speeches were so very passionate, not only about having a safe place for our dogs to play, but as Rick Duro pointed out, “A dog run is not only about the dogs, more importantly, it’s about people.”
The Community Board overwhelmingly approved the dog run with a 35-4 vote!!!!!
Where Do We Go From Here?
As the Parks Department does not have the money to fund the dog run, SUDS will have to raise the money itself. But, after what we have gone through trying to get it approved on the local level, we look forward to the challenge. We have several members of our organizations that specialize in Grant Writing and fundraising. We will also be in contact with Councilman Eric Gioia to see if he can help us with the costs of building a beautiful Dog Run in Sunnyside.
We will be working very closely with the Parks Department on this project and our goal would be to break ground sometime in the late Fall of 2006.
We hope that it will be the crown jewel of Dog Runs in Queens and cannot wait for the day that we cut the ribbon to celebrate its Grand Opening!
***One last note, without the leadership over the years of the ORIGINAL SUDS members none of this would be possible. They are the true heroes of our group. The hard work and dedication of two of these members in particular should be noted: Ford Trojanowski and James Underwood.***
|
-°F 
