PICKERING -- It's official: Rover and Fido will be able to run freely with other leash-free dogs at a location council approved early Tuesday morning.

For three years, the dog park working group has been working with the City of Pickering to find an appropriate location for the city's first off-leash dog park that would be safe for residents, children and dogs, and nuisance-free for nearby homeowners.

“The goal is to make this park a success, not an area of concern,” working group member Nicole Scarlett said at a recent executive committee meeting.

After many other locations were rejected, council unanimously approved the location of Grand Valley Park, lands owned by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, west of Valley Farm Road and south of Third Concession Road, to house the park.  The 41-hectare area has been used by dog walkers and as an access to the Seaton Hiking Trail in recent years.  It will contain a fenced-in park, a parking lot and remaining areas will be reviewed for possible future uses such as new public trail loops and connections.

The City had originally intended for Pickering's first dog park to be a pilot project, but staff and council hope it'll become permanent since they've found an ideal location.

The TRCA has approved the use of the land and the park will go ahead as long as staff approves the site plan.

Officially Launched
On October 17, 2005 City of Pickering staff and Mayor and Members of Council officially launched the Eyes on the Street program.  The public launch was also used as an opportunity to recognize supportive partners from the Durham Regional Police Service, Ajax Pickering Board of Trade, Region of Durham, Durham District School Board and the Durham District Catholic School Board.

Premise
The Eyes on the Street program was developed to address issues with graffiti, excess litter, vandalism and illegal dumping.  Over the past year the City implemented many education and action based initiatives to address these problems such as Adopt a Park, Pitch in Parties, TD Great Canadian Shoreline Clean Up, Enviro-Monsters, 20 Minute Pickering Makeover and signage.  The Eyes on the Street program takes this one step further by encouraging residents, local businesses and City staff to be part of the solution by taking an active approach.

Why is this important?
Graffiti, illegal dumping, litter and vandalism are problems that many communities struggle to solve.  If left unresolved, these problems can lead to more instances of the same illegal behaviours, negative perceptions about the affected neighbourhood and detract from the City aesthetically.  These issues may also pose health & safety concerns and impact on our natural environment.

As a result, the actions of those at fault become everyone's problem!  Therefore, we are encouraging businesses, residents and City staff to be part of the solution by taking an active approach.

Since the program was launched a significant amount of effort has gone into getting the word out to as many people as possible using various means.  This is an essential component to the overall success of the program.  Since the program was launched 3½ months ago there have been 140 incidents reported by 109 callers.  The majority of the calls (58%) pertain to graffiti.  It is important that graffiti is reported because some of it that we may simply view as symbols, numbers and letters done by “taggers” or “kids being kids” could actually be gang messaging.  All graffiti incidents are photographed and documented in a Graffiti Inventory.  The Inventory is submitted to the Durham Regional Police Service.

How can the Neighbourhood Watch help?
Be part of the solution.  Look around your own neighbourhood, be aware of your surroundings when you are at work, driving around the City or walking the dog.  If you see an area or an item within the City that has been targeted with graffiti, illegal dumping, litter or vandalism please contact the City of Pickering and report the type of incident and its location.

For your convenience, reports can be made many ways.

Call Customer Care toll free at 1.877.420.4666
Email customercare@city.pickering.on.ca
Report Online at cityofpickering.com/eyesonthestreet
Print off the PDF copy of the online report and fax to Customer Care at 905.420.4610

Children enjoying new playground equipment.

I am pleased that we continue to make our parks, neighbourhoods and streets safer.

Many Ward 3 parks have been upgraded in recent years.  New equipment was installed at Brock Ridge Park, Centennial Park, Major Oaks Park, Beechlawn Park, Whitevale Park, Village East Park, Green River Park, Denmar Park, Claremont Park and Forest Glen Park, Summerpark Crescent Park, and more recently in Woodview Tot lot, Beverley Morgan and Greenwood Park.

Also, new traffic signals have been installed at Valley Farm Road/Fieldlight Blvd (IPS), Valley Farm Road/Pickering Parkway, Twyn Rivers Drive/Woodview Avenue, Bainbridge Drive/Kingston Road, Rosefield Road/Finch Avenue and Rosebank Road/Strouds Lane intersections, as well as many road improvement projects.

As a member of the Ajax-Pickering Police Liaison Committee, I can report that the Durham Regional Police Service is stepping up its presence in our community to combat the disturbing increase in violent bullying-type street crime.  The Police have had success as demonstrated by Operation Eradicate that resulted in a number of arrests and lowered the number of assaults and robberies in the area.

Another priority to me is completing our sidewalks network, particularly in areas heavily used by youth and other pedestrians such as school and other main routes where there are presently no sidewalks.

Traffic issues continue to be of major concern to many of your friends and neighbours.  The excessive speed of vehicles and the disobeyance of stop signs remains the number one complaint I receive.  We should all consider how our driving affects the safety of our neighbourhood streets.

As a means to help address these issues the City launched the Neighbourhood Traffic Watch and Road Watch Programs in partnership with the Durham Regional Police Service and resident volunteers.  These are awareness campaigns that give local residents the tools to help combat unsafe driving on their neighborhood streets.

The City has also completed a Safer Streets Traffic Management Strategy to better guide the City in using traffic signage, speed limits, traffic signals and traffic calming measures like speed humps.

The City decided to implement a 40km/h maximum speed limit for residential streets.  The majority of the streets subject to the maximum 40km/h limits have now been posted.  Please remember the maximum speed on most other City streets is 50 km/h (whether posted or not), including the northern rural roads.  To report problems in parks or to learn more about safer streets programs please contact City staff at 905-420-4630.