How Its Done: Following Through On Your Interests

The article below, from this week's Chagrin Valley Times, details a Pepper Pike resident's effort to get a dog park in Pepper Pike or, as Council Member Gail Mayland suggested, perhaps somewhere in the region that includes Pepper Pike.  Dr. Howard Sperber has been pursuing the idea since last Spring and is demonstrating precisely how residents with a specific interest can make a difference when they have ideas, of any kind:

-sound out a council member or your neighbors
-come to a meeting or meet with a council member or the mayor to discuss the idea
-find out what may already have been done or discussed in the past
-find out what information you need to gather to make your case
-gather that information, put it together and present it to City Council at a public meeting, so that we're all on the same page

There are other ways residents get their ideas before Council.
You can contact the mayor directly by phone, email or stop into City Hall. Council members also can be contacted and may offer to bring up a topic during the time when the council meetings check with each member to find out if he or she has something to mention.  I'm the newbie - I suspect there are more ways still but these are the ones I've used myself over the years.

Chagrin Valley Times: Dog Park (1/28/10)

Disclosure: Dr. Sperber is someone I consider to be a friend and he has supported me in my efforts around town. I'm extremely excited when I see anyone take a passion and go with it and that is what Dr. Sperber is doing - especially in his announcement at the city council meeting, described in the above article, that he intends to form a group with other dog lovers in the city.  I share the concerns mentinoed in the article about finding the right location.  Getting together with other dog lovers certainly seems to me to be the best way to multiply the possible solutions to the questions about how to make this happen. I wish him great luck and look forward to following the developments.

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