The Forest Park Dog Run Association

Manhattan has lots of official, legal dog runs (here's a list of dog runs in and around New York City), but to my knowledge there's only one or two in Queens.

So I gathered several hundred signatures, contacted the Community Board, started a letter writing campaign, talked with park officials... On Sept. 1, 1998, I met with the Park Service, which offered a site (on a several-month trial basis) between Union Turnpike and the Robinson (nee Interboro) Parkway, just south of Metropolitan Avenue. The Park Service promised to put up temporary fencing and a gate as soon as I'd persuaded the Park Service that somebody in the community would take responsibility for keeping the place clean.

Which brings us to... the Forest Park Dog Run Association, which held its first meeting on October 1, 1998, with about twenty people present. I was nominated as President, and nobody else volunteered for that job, so I guess I'm it for now. We'll probably set up a separate Web page for the Association and the dog run mentioned above; watch this space.

At its first several meetings, the Association discussed the site we had been offered by the Park Service, pointed out a number of serious concerns about it, and agreed to pursue other sites (ideally, a strip of land near the Overlook building at the northeastern end of Forest Park).

On Nov. 16, 1998, we met again with the Park Service, which flatly refused the site near the Overlook building, but suggested another one between the Robinson Parkway and Myrtle Avenue, some as-yet-to-be-determined portion of the long strip from 79th Street to 86th Street. This site has recently been cleared of weeds and "paved" with wood chips, and is currently being used by many dog-walkers in that neighborhood after hours. I've downloaded a map of the area, courtesy of maps.yahoo.com.


Last modified: Sat Dec 5 13:05:41 EST 1998
Stephen Bloch / sbloch@boethius.adelphi.edu