It’s official: Seattle is a better place for dogs than it is for skateboarders

The work of Seattle skatepark advocates has often been compared to the effort made by the Citizens for Off Leash Areas group, which started back in 1997. We’ve been told by several city officials that “the dog park folks went through a very similar process, and just like them, it will just take time to get things rolling”.

It’s a little naive to pretend like people haven’t been crying out for skateparks since long before the latest post-Ballard Bowl wave of activism. In fact, I’ve met people who were advocating for skateparks in Seattle back in the late 80’s. But the COLA has been successful, and are now sitting pretty much right skateboarders we want to be, as soon as doggedly possible.

Dog parks used to be considered a scourge to the neighborhood, NIMBY’ed out of existence by angry neighbors, and the Parks Department was slow to get on board. It took the initiative of City Councilmember Jan Drago and the P.E.L.L. committee to get things rolling in a positive direction. Sound familiar?

Now Seattle has been voted one of the best cities in the country for dogs with a total of 11 dog parks, but remains one of the worst metropolitan cities for public skateboarding facilities. Now that we’ve taken care of our canine pals, hopefully we can focus on creating positive places for our kids to be healthy and active.

Cross your paws.