West New York residents will finally have somewhere to take their dogs, and just in time for summer.
A new dog run near 64th Street on Boulevard East was completed last week. It’s part of a streetscape project along the boulevard that is being paid for with $1 million in Green Acres funding. The project will complete the promenade along the boulevard from 60th to 67th streets.
Bow wow
After complaints from residents asking for a place to walk their dogs, Mayor Albio Sires and the Board of Commissioners decided to create a dog run.
“We saw the necessity for people who walk their dogs, especially along the boulevard,” said Sires in his office last week. “We are hopeful that this will take the dogs off the parks and sidewalks.”
Fenced-in dog runs allow owners to let their dogs off a leash so that they can get exercise.
However, the mayor warned that owners still have to clean up after their dogs.
The dog run is taking the place of the tennis courts that were on the boulevard between 64th and 65th streets.
“We had to find an alternative use for the tennis court,” said Sires. “People were already using it for a dog run anyway.”
The courts, which had been closed on and off for the past six years, were constantly in disrepair because of their location on the edge of the cliff. The cliff would naturally shift, causing the ground to crack.
Residents can still use the tennis courts located one and a half blocks below the new dog run.
The bigger project
The area from 60th to 67th streets on the boulevard will soon have new benches, trees, lighting fixtures, and sidewalks.
“We will have the entire boulevard completed by the end of the summer,” said Sires, adding that 60th to 67th streets will look the same as 51st to 60th streets. “We will have a complete promenade along the boulevard.”
Work on McEldowney Park, located between 60th and 61st streets, began two weeks ago. According to Sires, all of the little parks and passive areas will be renovated as part of this project.
The sidewalks in the area will also be replaced, and therefore, will have to be torn up.
The sidewalks from 60th to 62nd streets will be worked on in May, followed by 62nd to 65th streets in June and, lastly, 65th trough 67th streets in July.