On Tuesday, August 18th at 6:30pm (online), the Town of Corte Madera is reviewing dog policies in light of organized, persistent,
and unfair complaints about dog and owner behavior in the park. In addition to waging a campaign of harassment of dog owners
who enjoy the public space near his house and badgering police and town personnel and officials with often fabricated
or grossly exaggerated accounts of
dog problems, the main complainer has been recruiting neighbors to complain about dogs in the park for months.
The real goal of the main complainer is to further treat the public easement space behind his property as an extension of his own
private back yard. The space is a public easement created when the entire neighborhood was developed in the 1950s. It is maintained
and managed by our town and our tax dollars, and it provides a path that allows the public to circumnavigate the park and school during
school hours without interfering with school and student activity.
It is not appropriate for this homeowner to be treating the public space as his own property, or to be harassing the town about dogs in
a misleading effort to reduce use of the public space. He's put some gravel down, planted bushes, and
recently planted tomatoes in the public space and he likes to recreate, socialize, and walk his dog off leash even though the area is
public space and subject to the very same dog leash ordinance that he so adamantly insists be enforced on other dog owners.
If you are care about fair treatment of dogs and dog owners in our community, or you care about public access to public space
and being able to circumnavigate the park and school during school hours, please send your opinions to the town council via email here
: [email protected]. It is best to send your opinions and concerns before the meeting
so they can be properly considered. During the meeting members of the public can speak for up to 3 minutes each, but there is no
debate or opportunity to rebut the statements of others who may speak after you. Please also attend the online Town Council meeting next Tuesday evening
at 6:30pm. Here are (instructions for joining the online Zoom meeting).
Complaints
I have discussed (ranted about) the mostly bogus complaints and incredible hypocrisy of the
main complainer. In reality, the complainer just wants to use and be able to treat public space,
maintained and managed by the town, as his own private space.
Public Easement
The area behind the complainer's back yard is a public drainage canal easement, created when the neighborhood was first
build in the 1950s - it is not a private easement granted or sold or owned by the homeowner himself as he would have you believe
(he called the cops one day telling them that my dog had trespassed on his "easement property"). As public space, maintained by the town
and with a path
that is open for the public to enjoy and which allows pedestrians to circumnavigate the park and school whaen school is in session,
it is not right for the complainer to recreate, socialize, and exercise his dog in that space while denying the same usage
to other members of the public. The homeowner has planted plants, including tomatoes, outside of his fence, on property that
he does not own and which I think should be left as natural habitat (which he claims to so.
Greater Public Access - Not Less!
Currently, the north end of the public easement space is blocked off by a fence while the
southern end is open, has a bench and dog cleanup bag dispenser and a sign stating the dog leash ordinance (which the homeowner himself ignores).
The north end fence often has a gap in it which some people use when walking along the canal on the public space. Sometimes the gap is closed
in a seemingly jury-rigged fashion (by homeowners along the canal or by the town?) and then alternately opened up again (by community members
who've walked the path for decades and don't like to have their access restricted? Instead of having to climb through or over a fence
(at who's liability?), I think the north end should have a gate installed with a high latch (that young children cannot reach for improved
safety) and the public should be able to more easily and safely enjoy the path and public area along the canal that is
maintained and managed by the town.
The complaining homeowner has asked the town to not allow my dog to enjoy the canal, to restrict the length of dog leashes, and to
strictly enforce the very same leash law he ignores when walking his dog. His reasons are purely selfish and abusive.
While the complaining homeowner seems to be agitating for less public access to the public area and canal behind his house, I think the town
should not be rewarding his insincere and misleading efforts. The complaining homeowner knows that the public space behind his house was there for nearly 50 years
before he purchased his house and he has to get used to the idea that he must with others in our community.
If you support my suggestion that the Town Of Corte Madera preserve and even enhance public access to the public easement area along the east side of the canal by placing a gate on the north end of the canal, please enter and submit your information below!