Curbed recently posted a list of Atlanta’s Top 10 dog parks, with Piedmont taking the top spot.  Close-proximity-to-Decatur options Oakhurst, Adair and Mason Mill all make appearances.

Where are your favorite Atlanta metro dog parks?

Piedmont Dog Park pic courtesy of thinkingjosh via Flickr

I’ve received a few pictures already of two fences being erected on both sides of the drainage canal inside of Adair Park’s dog park.  Decatur Active Living Asst. Director Cheryl Burnette was good enough to provide this explanation as to why it is necessary…

As many of the Adair Dog Park users may know, the park has had multiple drainage problems over the past year. There is a drainage channel running down the middle of the park through which rain run- off is directed. Part of the fence boundary runs across the bottom of the drainage. The bottom edge of the fence has been catching a lot of leaves, small limbs and other debris causing the water to be redirected to the east. When this occurs, the water floods the Historic Mary Gay House.

The best solution to this problem was to construct a fence on either side of the drainage channel with an opening at the south end of the park (the top of the hill) so that dogs and dog-owners would still be able to access both sides of the dog park. Leaving the space on either side of the channel was necessary to get equipment up the channel in the event that repairs are needed. Both sides of the park will still be accessible. This solution was a compromise to respond to the need to keep the channel open without reducing the size of the park.

What would you do with $500,000 to makeover your local dog park?

Thad points out that Beneful is currently holding an online contest where the grand-prize is a whopping $500,000 to makeover a dog park in your area.  To enter, all participants have to do is make a two-minute video detailing what they would envision as their ultimate dog park.

This dude explains…

Sounds pretty simple, right?  Well, apparently not simple enough since this contest started way back on May 3rd and there are only THREE entries thus far.  The contest ends on June 18th, and then beginning in August folks will vote online for the winner.

With so few contestants and an online voting component, I’m pretty sure we could win this thing.

So, if anyone feels so inclined to take the lead on creating the video, I’ll provide my full support.  You can brainstorm ideas on how to spend the money below in the comments section, and once your video is up I’ll post it here.  And when voting time comes around, I’ll make sure provide the link to vote.

We’ve already successfully done this once when we helped Sydney Rhame win $1,000 from Kudzu.  I’m pretty sure we can do it again.

Click here read the latest Decatur Focus (PDF).

Highlights (from my own narrow-minded perspective)…

• The city has received a FEMA grant to purchase four properties on Westchester Drive that are below the base flood elevation and have “flooded several times”. Houses on the properties will be demolished and the land will be preserved as green space.
• Starting in 2008, residents will have to start paying for Dog Park tags for their dogs. The price is $20 for the first dog and $5 for each additional dog. Non residents now can also use the park if they are willing to pay a heck of a lot more: $60 for first dog, $15 for each additional dog. Maybe I’ll just drive up to Mason Mill Dog Park instead. Click here for a full list of Georgia dog parks. (page 4)
• The renovation of Boyce/Frost residence at 601 Third Ave in Oakhurst will be featured on Discovery Channel’s Green Homes TV, which will debut in 2008. Ah, how ironic…can you say “Oakhurst Historic District”? (page 5)
• Dancing Goats Coffee offers public “cuppings” ever Friday at 10a. According to the all-knowing Focus “Cupping is the evaluation technique used by coffee professionals and is similar to that of wine tasting.” (page 8)
• Steinbeck’s Oyster Bar will host The Great Oakhurst Chili Cook Off in its parking lot from Nov 17th from 12p-6p. Also check out Steinbeck’s new Brunch menu, which features pumpkin pancakes! (page 10)

All right…five bullets classifies as “highlights”. Anymore and I’m rewriting the whole darn thing!