Santa Fe's CIty Council is happy to take donations. | Matt Grubs
New Yorkers have a reputation for impatience. Sometimes, that's a good thing.
After spending some months gathering support and figuring out a way to get donations for a new dog park on city land at Fort Marcy Park, a single $61,311 gift last month put an end to the fundraising drive.
According to District 1 City Councilor Signe Lindell, it started with a conversation about a small donation.
She tells SFR that New York City radio personality Elvis Duran and partner Alex Carr of the Staten Island Zoo approached her about buying benches for the existing dog park, a small fenced area that will be spruced up to become part of a new space for canines. They own a home in Santa Fe and, according to social media, have a dog, Max. When Lindell gave the couple the cost estimate, she got a phone call.
"They called me back and most generously said, 'Well, what could you do with $50,000?'" she says. Lindell, local architect Justin Greene and other supporters put a plan together with the city's Parks and Recreation Department. The price tag, $61,311, is how much money Duran and Carr forwarded to the city. The new park will be called the "Max and Friends Dog Park," according to legislation Lindell introduced Wednesday night.
"We're deeply, deeply appreciative," Lindell says, noting that Greene has been gathering additional donations through a GoFundMe web page, which had $2,435 as of Wednesday.
"A lot of people are particpating. And it gets used all the time, that little thing," Lindell says.
The governing body approved a transfer of the donation during its evening meeting that will get the process underway for the park. Designed for free by Greene, the plans call for both small- and large-dog enclosures on the west side of Fort Marcy Park, near an existing tennis court.
The park will feature what equipment company Pet and Playground Products calls novice-level agility features like hoop jumps and dog crawl tunnels. Shade canopies and bone-shaped benches are set to be included, as will drinking fountains for, at least, the canines using the facility.
City Councilor Roman Abeyta, who represents the Southside District 3, was one of the co-sponsors of Lindell's legislation. Director the the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Fe in his professional career, Abeyta told his colleagues that he was a fan of the idea of soliciting donations for relatively small projects like a dog park and reminded them that Santa Fe's fastest-growing part of town was in need of public spaces.
"Maybe it'll set a good precedent for getting donations down on the Southside, also," Abeyta says of his support for Lindell's north side project. While the north and east parts of Santa Fe have reputations for being well-moneyed, Abeyta says lower-income parts of town often have better luck with grant funding that takes need into account. He tells SFR he's happy to see the donation and the project in District 1 and he'd love to see something similar in his part of town.
The Southside has been the beneficiary of community donations for projects such as the newest branch of the library system, which saw cash infusions from a variety of sources. However, residents balked when a local liquor distributor wanted to donate $1 million and its owners eventually backed away from the contribution.