Dog Pilot Program Fails

The Commissioners voted tonight on Dave Brumfield's Pilot Program to allow leashed dogs in Williamsburg Park.

The vote was 2 - 2. Dave Brumfield and Kelly Fraasch voted for it. Kristen Linfante and John Bendel voted against it. Matt Kluck was not present. Motion failed.

What if there was another park added? UPDATED 2x

I uploaded the podcast of last night's Parks Advisory Board meeting. It is available here. I have not had time to create a soundbite of the Williamsburg Park portion of the meeting, but will try to get to it later today and add it as an update. Here are three photos that I took yesterday of Williamsburg Park. The photos don't do it justice. It is gorgeous.

The Williamsburg Park discussion is during the last 6 minutes or so of the meeting. One of the PAB members gave an update about the Williamsburg experiment. Kelly Fraasch asked, "What if there was another park added?" Oh great. Now we will have more people fighting. This is exactly what I predicted. The animosity will spread throughout the community. Can't we just clear off an area in one of the passive parks for dogs and forget the neighborhood parks? Can't we just stick with the current ordinance and worry about more important issues? More time has been spent over this than the pool fiasco. That is worrisome to me.

Update September 4, 2013 5:36 PM Here is the soundbite to the PAB meeting concerning Williamsburg Park.

Update September 5, 2013 8:55 AM A Lebo Citizens reader sent this photo of the sign in Iroquois Park taken yesterday. 

Iroquois Park

This blog is officially full of crap. UPDATED

Susan would never do this. I received some photos of Williamsburg Park that a resident wanted me to share.

Popular spot - corner of basketball court.

Pretty disgusting, but here is a before and after:

Pre chalk drawing

Poor Ella. Did she step in it?

Next to the bench

Yes, Lebo Citizens has reached a new low. Certainly journalism at its finest. But this is what we will be seeing in all the parks, if this goes through. Dave Brumfield sure has his work cut out, cleaning up the crap in our town, both in and out of the Commission Chambers.

Update September 1, 2013 5:40 PM All pilot program fees collected will be used for repainting the official car used by the Commissioner implementing the Pilot Program for his or her ward.

Everything is negotiable in Lebo

Remember all the commotion over dogs in Twin Hills? Mt. Lebanon ordinance change will allow dogs in park According to Dave Brumfield, that seems to be negotiable.

Here is an email sent by Dave Brumfield to residents in his ward concerning dogs in Williamsburg Park. Note how he is doing this before forwarding to his fellow commissioners.

Friends and Neighbors,
Please find attached the draft for the Williamsburg Park Pilot Program we discussed during our June Meeting. I am circulating this draft to every resident that emailed me on this subject but if I missed anyoneplease feel free to forward it. I had hoped to get this out to everyone sooner, unfortunately there were a few tangential issues that I had not forseen that took longer to figure out. I am going to give everyone two weeks to provide me with comments, concerns and/or questions. Please forward any such communication to me by email if possible. On August 23, 2013 I will make any changes that seem appropriate based on the comments and questions I receive. I will then forward the program outline to my fellow Commissioners for consideration during our August 26, 2013 meeting.
Thank you for your interest and involvement with this issue.
Dave Brumfield

Williamsburg Park Pilot Program draft

Is Dave making his own rules? Is this going to carry over to other parks? Where is the $25 permit fee going? Will it be to pay for the Williamsburg bouncer who will be "carding" the dogs? This ought to be good.

A letter from the high school principal

Someone forwarded this email to me today.  I don't have children at the high school, but I still like to be informed of pilot programs, especially concerning technology.  I thought it would be something other taxpayers would be interested in reading, as well.

Dear Mt. Lebanon High School Parents/Guardians:

I'm pleased to announce the introduction of the Mt. Lebanon High School "Bring Your Own Technology" initiative that allows students to utilize their personal technology devices under certain circumstances and in certain areas of the high school building. This pilot program will focus on empowering students to use their personal technology devices for learning purposes in our educational setting.

This new initiative will be implemented in two ways as described below.

1. Beginning today in the high school library, guest network internet access is available to all faculty, staff, students, and guests. Students may now bring and use their own larger personal technology devices such as laptops, netbooks, iPads, Kindles, etc., in the library. In other words, the high school library is now considered a wi-fi "hot-spot" in ways similar to that of the public library, a coffee shop, a Panera's restaurant, etc. Please note that the use of cell phones/iPhones is still prohibited in the library.

2. The second option available to students and teachers will occur within individual classrooms. A group of teachers have volunteered to participate in this pilot program by allowing the use of students' personal technology devices including larger devices (laptops, netbooks, iPads, Kindles, etc.) and personal hand-held devices (cell phones, iPhones, iPods, etc.) within their classroom if their use is appropriate as part of the teacher's lesson. Participating teachers will inform students if they are participating in this pilot, and they will inform students when they are permitted to bring in and use a personal technology device in their class. (At all other times, use of these personal technology devices continues to not be permitted including in hallways, other classrooms, etc., during the school day.)

Please note that if your son or daughter brings a personal technology device, including a laptop, iPad, iPhone, etc., to school to use in the library or in a class with a teacher's approval, he or she is solely responsible for the security and maintenance of their device.

The high school faculty, administration, and district technology department, will be evaluating the outcomes of this pilot throughout the semester with the possibility of expanding the program during the 2nd semester. The cooperation of all students will be essential in helping to make this a successful initiative.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.


Sincerely,

Brian R. McFeeley

Principal
Mt. Lebanon High School