July
1997
The Satya Interview:
How to be an Activist- Going to the Dogs
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By the end of this summer, Brooklyn's first dog
run will become operational in Carroll Gardens, and will be the
only place in the entire borough where dogs can be legally let
off their leashes. A small group of Carroll Gardens residents,
brought together by Alyssa Bonilla, worked the political process
and built community goodwill to bring about this historic event.
She tells Satya how she and the Dog Owners Group of Carroll Gardens
(DOG) - core membership of seven - pulled this off in nine months,
and offers advice to like-minded local organizers.
Q: What led you to start the crusade
for a dog run?
A: We used to live in a house near a large park which
had lots and lots of space. Then we moved from that house to
an apartment in Carroll Gardens. One of my dogs is made for long-distance
running. He became very depressed and listless, because he was
basically in a shoebox. I would walk him, but it wasn't the same.
We had even gotten a companion dog, but that wasn't the same
as exercise outdoors. I saw the dog runs happening in Manhattan
and thought, "Well, why isn't that happening here?"
Q: This was a very grassroots initiative.
How did you get started?
A: I stuck a crayon and magic marker drawing in the pet
shop saying Dog Owners Association forming now. One woman called
me. Then a woman stopped me on the street and said, "Oh I can
make signs." The two of us put up signs. So we were up to three
people. Some people called as a result of the signs. We had a
meeting of 12 people, of which only one person besides myself
is still active in the group, but has become a core person. In
my third meeting, two people showed up, but I just tried to continue
step by step, thinking, "I want to bridge gaps between people.
I want to create goodwill."
Q: How did the momentum start building?
A: We paraded [with dogs] in the Atlantic Antic opening
parade last fall and in the Blessing of the Animals day. It
was a great feeling to hear the dogs being cheered, because
it fed my sense that people have just forgotten how great dogs
are. Word of mouth is pretty good. Dog owners talk to each
other, you see each other. So, when I found someone besides
myself who was very much an organizer, immediately it was a
team, so that multiplied the effect. And then another person
showed up - a woman and her husband. They were total animal
rights, dog rights people and committed to the project completely.
So that really helped. When the seventh person came, we formed
a nucleus - a critical mass.
Q: What happened next?
A: Word of mouth led me to Margaret Cusack, who was
trying to get a dog run in Boerum Hill. I was very nervous
about starting a community project. She was my community organizing
mentor. She took me under her wing, so I actually saw someone
doing community organizing work in a very nonchalant, matter-of-fact,
in-your-home, in-your-living-room kind of way. Very clear plans,
very clear goals - this is what we need to talk about, this
is what we need to do. I also had contact with Robin Kovary,
a dog-trainer who had started the Washington Square run.
The turning point
was when we had Marty Waxman as a guest speaker at one of our
meetings in January. He founded the dog run on 51st Street and
New York Avenue. The man actually created a web site for dog
runs. He knows what's going on in different dog runs all over
the world; he was information central. Those are the three elements:
the idea, the conception, the overall map. That's where I got
my learning from. The dog run wouldn't exist if they hadn't paved
the way and done a lot of work.
Q: When did it start to seem like it
was really going to happen?
A: In September 1996, I went to a Community Board meeting
all by myself. The District Manager met me and said, "Go talk
to the Parks Committee Chair." His first words were, "Oh. I don't
like dogs. But it's good to know you're doing the right thing." He
was completely supportive of this idea because he saw this as
a solution to dogs being where you don't want them, to decreasing
dog traffic on the sidewalks, and therefore the mess. It was
an answer to a lot of his prayers. That was the key selling point
when we made initial contact with the Parks Committee chair of
Community Board Six.
Q: So what was the approval process?
A: Projects are reviewed by committees and then are
referred to the full Community Board. The committee makes a
recommendation, yes or no, to the Board. We do not speak to
the Board; the committees address the Board. So, our opportunity
to speak was the Parks Committee meeting in March. We had a
schematic drawing of each site, photos of every site, how many
feet of fence each site needs, which one has good water access.
We made it very clear that we were willing to put out a lot
of effort to have this. We tried to answer every possible question
beforehand. We got on the full Board agenda in April, and got
approval in May. It happened so quickly.
Q: How much community organizing did
you do?
A: We had a petition table at a local pet store on Court
Street every Saturday for two months. We were becoming more
of a visible group and not just individuals with dogs. We want
the dogs and dog owners to be visible, not skulking around
the back roads trying to keep from being yelled out.
Q: Had you done community organizing
before?
A: I was a political science major in school and had
a summer job working for a labor union. I did door-to-door
canvassing for a while and worked on a Congressional campaign
once. I haven't done anything like that for years, because
it felt like too much energy for too little result. To go really
local like this - and I mean two blocks away - to go so grassroots
and so local has been so satisfying, because it's not pounding
on someone's door for something that happens so far away.
I don't think of
myself as a community leader at all. I have a job in this group,
so to speak, in that I have a leadership role, and I was an initiator
in something that wanted to happen, to be born. I was like a
midwife for this project, so I can't take credit for it.
Q: What does this process say about dogs
in our society?
A: Dog owners as a group are on the periphery of the community.
People have basically lost touch with what animals have to offer
us and they see dogs as aggressive and dirty. They've lost sight
of Lassie, of the family dog. They've lost touch with [the fact
that] dogs can be integrated into the community in a friendly,
responsible way. I don't see us as an animal rights group, because
we're not really agitating to raise consciousness, but I have
to admit that that's in my mind. I'm hoping that as a byproduct
of the good will created around this project, people will open
their minds to animals.
For information on the Carroll Gardens Dog Owners
Association, contact 718-722-7859.
Some additional information.
Advice to other activists/community organizers
1) Write out your intentions really
clearly first. The most power I have seen in this group came
from having faith in people's positive intentions and good will.
2) Maintain your clarity and be 100
percent committed. A whole lot of energy will sweep behind you.
3) Make sure you include the community.
4) As you work, gather and renew.
It can't just be a linear charge, because you get burned out.
5) Personal support is necessary,
especially if you're in a leadership role. It has to be a renewing
process, very balanced, very organic. It's like tending a garden.
You can't do anything about the weather, but you can water, you
can feed the soil, you can tend. Whatever image works. I guess
love is the best. - A.B.
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