A number of people seem to be rather upset over new rules put in place this month at Beaver Lake. The new rules require anyone who doesn’t live in the neighborhood of posh North Ashvegas villas to pay $50 for a license to be able to walk a dog around the lake.
Although a popular public spot for runners and dog walkers, the lake is privately owned. And apparently the high-minded North Ashvegas liberals are sick and tired of people letting their dogs poop all over the place without cleaning it up.
A story in the local newspaper says Lake View Park owners spent thousands of dollars installing signs, offering plastic poop bags and waste bins. All to no avail. So they’ve instituted the new licensing fee, and they’ve got a “warden” walking around checking dogs to be sure they’re licensed.
We think this is going a bit too far. Is the dog crap really that bad? It really just sounds like a move to keep the less affluent mutts, who can’t afford a pnav or a $50 license, out of the high-minded ‘hood. Why not just go ahead and build a fence around the whole damn lake and start charging everyone admission, if that’s the way you feel about it?
14 Comments
Kind of funny watching the (ex-)cops picking up the dog crap at Beaver Lake. A good job for them.
in all fairness, the city of asheville doesn’t maintain the park, and so no city and state tax dollars are financing the park’s up-keeping.
beaver lake is a private park that is solely financed by the lake view park residents. residences pay a monthly due to help pay for a small staff to maintain the park.
lake view park is not a haughty community, it just wants to keep the park safe, clean and beautiful for visitors. doing so on a limted budget requires cooperation. perhaps because it couldn’t get any cooperation, the community had to resort to its current policy.
as a suggestion, perhaps the MANY other pet owners who care, could volunteer to do something to assist. remember, beaver lake is, after all, not maintained by the city of asheville. it’s all from the monthly dues of the lake view park residents. its demographics range from lower-middle to upper-middle income, and only a few residents with deep pockets. it’s definitely not raking in any profits from the dues that go in to the fund to maintain the park.
lets be fair and be nice. beaver lake is a beautiful park with plenty of history. for example, Lincoln Beachey (aviation in the same context as the Wright brothers), John Nolen (landscaping in the same context as Olmstead), and the Dixie Highway (automobile in the same context as Ford). also, a few scenes from My Fellow Americans were shot around beaver lake. it’s a private park that’s open to the public. no tax dollars are going into the park, only the community’s monthly dues.
Hello Asheville,
We are moving into your lovely city and we are in close proximity to Beaver Lake- Manor Ridge Apartments to be exact. Is this in the neighborhood, as designated by the private lake rules? If not I would be happy to get a liscense for my dog Annie! She is twelve, and a rescue dog from Atlanta, she had a bit of a hard life to begin with! She is half Pug and I am not sure about the other half!
We are in the habit of always cleaning up after ourselves and plan to continue! Please inform us how to obtain a permit so we can both enjoy the lake! My email address is profhat@gmail.com or pollyhat@yahoo.com
Thank you owners of the lake for your consideration.
Marjorie Hatton
Nashville,Tn.
Well I see the point about it being private property but I think it is a little crazy to charge folks $50 to walk your dog. Are they going to hire a person fulltime to pick up the puppy poop and handle other items around the lake with the revenue generated from Puppy Poop licenses?
James
The fee is fair. The owners are permitting visitors to use their own private property, and it makes sense that they want to be reimbursed for the messes that are left there by the public.
Beaver Lake is a great asset to Asheville. I wish it were a public park, but alas, it is privately owned property and we’re fortunate that they let us use it.
Perhaps the biggest shame here is that too many irresponsible dogowners have spoiled the free fun for the rest of us.
That is HYSTERICAL!! Who the hell is this?? Come on Ash, tell me!!
And someone needs to give A to the P a sedative. He is such an ass.
Peach,
I can’t blatantly misuse my power for petty personal gains like you current date, but if your free next saturday I could take you to the restaruant i cook for and threaten to spit in your food if you don’t come out with me for drinks.
Meh.
If your dog shits somewhere like that, you gotta clean it. I dont own a dog at the moment, but I had to stop jogging at beaver lake becuase I was tired of getting crap all over my shoes.
Your dog is not a person. It not your furry buddy who breaks all the rules. Its a pet you have to…you know,,,be responsible for.
but responsibility in asheville is an oxymoron. It’ll happen the same day I can walk downtown without seing crowds of overly entitled indie jackasses, trustfunafarians, and wealthy suburbanite kids acting like downtown street punks.
Let’s see… leash laws passed, dog park established, scooper law passed, "do not bring your dog to festivals" notices, more "do not bring your dog to my house" written on private invitations and now "do not let your dog shit on private property where joggers, kids and people who just like to sit in pretty green grass hang out"…Outrageous!
Do you think this is because people hate dogs?
Or is there some other reason?
We have a nice little corner park on Cumberland and Starnes. It’s name is Hummingbird Park – isn’t that lovely?
My 11-yo calls it "Dogshit Park".
Those kids say the darndest/most honest things!
Good for you Kathryn!
Kathryn RAWKS. This is re-GD-diculous. I will say that I almost got a $100 ticket from the NYPD for having Roxanne off her leash on Saturday. Apparently it was a guise for him to pet her & ask me out on a date. Funny, eh? We’re going out for lunch this week! Can you believe it? So weird.
I take it one step further… I trained mine to poop only at Biltmore Leke….errr, Enka Lake, that is.
That’s why I trained my dog to only poop in Biltmore Forest.
Seems like they took a pretty community-minded step: keep the property accessible to everybody, but help counteract the thoughtlessness of the people who feel so entitled that they won’t even clean up after their dogs when they sh*t on someone else’s private property.