Craftsman Village President Michelle Ahrend-Ekhoff and resident and activist Lisa Marie Harris flank a prototype of the neighborhood’s newly installed bag dispensers. Photo courtesy of Lisa Marie Harris.
Long Beach resident Lisa Marie Harris, sick and tired of seeing dog poop all over the sidewalks and curbs in her Craftsman Village Historic District neighborhood, decided to do something about educating people about picking up after their pets and possibly set an example for other neighborhoods as well.
“Every neighborhood from the Downtown area to the Eastside has been blighted with the illegal leftovers from our four-legged friends’ owners that either don’t have a bag or are in too big a hurry to clean up,” Harris said. “So, it’s our priority in Craftsman Village to beautify, educate, and participate together as a team of neighbors to keep CVHD clean, historic and beautiful.”
Late last year, Harris attended the grant-writing workshops offered by the City of Long Beach and then submitted an application to the city’s Neighborhood Services Bureau for 10 dog-waste bag dispensers to be installed in the neighborhood, which is roughly bordered by 10th and 7th streets and Walnut and Orange avenues.
Craftsman Village Historic District map, City of Long Beach
The bureau’s Neighborhood Partner Program grants approved a five-year grant for the dispensers, strap kits, graffiti removal, a five-year supply of waste bags, CVHD logo artwork donated by Wellington Signs, and most importantly, over 2,000 hours over the next five years for maintenance, all of which will be done by neighborhood volunteers and not city employees.
“Our neighborhood volunteer ‘managers’ that live closest to each utility pole agreed to be written into the partnership,” Harris said. “Each manager has been partnered with a volunteer resident ‘installer’ to help on installation day.”
Maintenance of the dispensers will consist of refilling the dispensers once a week with 60 bags and removing any graffiti. Ace Hardware on East Anaheim Street donated the graffiti-removal spray as well as metal strap filings for the dispensers. Each dispenser is ADA compliant and will stand 45 inches from the ground and face the sidewalk.
At 10:00AM Saturday morning, April 2, Harris and a crowd of neighbors rolled up their sleeves, scraped off their shoes, and got down to the business of installing the dispensers. They also distributed bilingual educational flyers provided by Long Beach Animal Care Services to neighbors and passersby. The flyers are printed with the municipal code sections that refer to Long Beach’s laws regarding pet waste and the directive to leash the dogs and pick up after them. The dispensers are emblazoned with the same text and logo.
In case you didn’t know…. Image courtesy of City of Long Beach Animal Care Services.
A volunteer team successfully installed 10 pet-waste-bag dispensers on April 3. Lisa Marie Harris is in blue. Photo courtesy of Lisa Marie Harris.
A 20-member volunteer team will keep the flyers at hand and give them out when there’s a need. Harris acknowledged that making the dispensers available to people must be coupled with such education and activism in order to be effective—just making the dispensers available may not be enough to be effective. The public needs to be made aware that dogs are required to be leashed for their own safety as well as for the safety of others, and no one needs to explain why pet owners are legally bound to pick up the stinking leavings of their pets.
“I’ve asked neighbors with no apparent bags, can I hand you a bag for your dog waste?” Harris said. “There are other things I could have done for a grant—benches, landscape, artwork—but this issue needs coverage for folks to become educated. It’s the law, and it’s a problem throughout LBC. Hopefully, other neighborhoods will follow suit—we’ll share resources.”
Harris credited Second District Field Deputy Mark Magdaleno for “connecting the dots” in the project, Downtown Long Beach Business Association Welcome Placemaking Manager Sean Warner for making connections, and Pizzanista! for donating a much-appreciated party delivery the evening after Installation Day. She also thanked her Craftsman Village neighbors for their teamwork and spirit and hoped that other neighborhoods would pick up the idea to help residents pick up after their own pets.
“My big dream is to have these dispensers all over the city of Long Beach,” she said. “It just makes sense to help keep these historic neighborhoods clean by empowering pets and owners alike!”
If it weren’t for dogs, some people would never go for a walk.
~ Author Unknown