MOUNT VERNON — Pet owners who don’t clean up after their dogs may ruin it for everyone.
It may sound laughable, but the people in City Hall don’t think it’s funny. City officials are considering banning pets from Public Square altogether because too many people have failed to dispose of their pets’ waste. Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis said this has been a problem for a number of years.
“Park staff have asked some pet owners to clean up after their pets, and some have been offended,” Mavis said.
The mayor said city workers do clean up dog feces, but do not go around looking for it. This creates an embarrassing problem when local school children visit the square on field trips and sit on the ground to eat their lunch.
“Between the farmers market, First Fridays, Memorial Day events, the Dan Emmett festival and other events, tens of thousands of people visit the square every year,” he said.
Mavis said many people who live in the downtown area walk their dogs on the square. There are signs on Public Square asking people to dispose of the pets’ waste, but they do not appear to be working.
In other city news:
•The mayor said he wants to remind residents about the upcoming Spring Clean Up, sponsored by the city. This year, the cleanup has been extended to include additional Saturdays. Items may be taken to BFI Waste Systems at 107 Tilden Ave. from Saturday, May 3, through Friday, May 9, as well as Saturday, June 7; Saturday, July 5; Saturday, Aug. 2; and Saturday, Sept. 6. This is for residents of the city only. The city pays 50 percent; the resident pays 50 percent. Hazardous waste will not be accepted.
•Mavis said he is trying to set up a meeting next week to set the strategy for relocating a historic county bridge to Foundation Park. The mayor plans to have a bowstring truss bridge near Bladensburg incorporated into the park’s trail system. The project has been delayed in part because of the high amount of precipitation this winter and the wetness of the soil around the bridge, which can make it difficult to move in large equipment to move the bridge. He added that he is working on pinning down a date and prefers to have it done on a Saturday.
•Schedules for street sweeping should be released on April 21. Street department staff has been sweeping streets with curbs in the city and will move on to streets without curbs in the future. The street department also continues to patch potholes around the city. Mavis said the patching seems to going well.
•A city auction will be held at the old National Guard motor pool building on Greenwood Avenue on Saturday, May 3. Old bicycles, used office equipment as well as some old parking meter heads are some of the types of things that will be sold.
•Administrative officials will begin to examine the intersection of Beech Street and Sychar Road, near the water park, for possible improvements. It can be difficult for motorists on Beech Street to see northbound traffic because the shape of the intersection. The mayor said he would like to have some improvement made before the pool opens this summer. Ideas under consideration include turning the street into a three-way stop or a two-way stop. He said he is also entertaining the possibility of changing the configuration of the intersection, but this could not be done this year.
•There will be legislation on the agenda of Monday’s Mount Vernon City Council meeting authorizing the advertising of bids for a project that entails the installation of a new traffic signal at the intersection of Blackjack Road and Newark Road.
•The 2008 brochures for the city’s water park will be mailed out Monday. Every household in the county with a child will receive one.
