November 1, 2006

Ronald F. Foley, Commissioner
Suffolk County Parks
P.O. Box 144, Montauk Hwy.
W. Sayville, N.Y. 11796-0144

Dear Commissioner Foley,

We are responding to your letter of Sept. 7th and the comments you made before the Suffolk Dept. of Parks Board of Trustees at their meeting on Aug. 17th in which you say that Coindre Hall is not an "appropriate" place for dog owners and that you intend to eliminate our presence at Coindre Hall. Please know that our supporters and we are extremely surprised, disappointed, and upset about your statements and your plans.

Among your comments to the Parks Trustees:

• "Dog owners think they have a right to do whatever they want, and
• "[Off-leash activities] need to be in places that are appropriate and Coindre Hall is just too small a property, too busy with other things, and it's an important historic asset in the county."

For more than a year, you have been aware of LI-DOG's efforts to make sure that Coindre Hall is a good experience not only for dog owners but for other park users as well. We created a volunteer park steward program to insure that fellow dog owners take good care of the park by picking up after their dogs, keeping their dogs under control, and being respectful of other park users. We have sponsored park cleanup days where we have picked up not only after other dog owners but also other park users. Then, in March 2006, we instituted a program we called, Share the Park, in an effort to see if we could devise a solution at Coindre Hall that would work for dog owners and non-dog owners alike.

On August 28th, we wrote Deputy Commissioner Tracey Bellone a lengthy, well-thought-out letter discussing, in detail, the particulars and results of our Share the Park campaign. That letter stated that the campaign to Share the Park on busy summer weekends had worked phenomenally well--that dog owners and their dogs stayed in one section of the park, leaving the entire rest of the park open for other users. We also noted that the entire time we ran the campaign-throughout the spring and summer-the rest of the park was used only sparsely.

We also noted that the Share the Park program successfully addressed the concerns raised by several constituencies at Coindre Hall-namely, non-dog owners, dog owners, the Historic Trust, and the Parks Dept. We said we believed the program provided an innovative, low cost solution to a problem the Parks Dept. and local officials have been wresting with for years-how Coindre Hall can be shared equitably by its various constituents. The bottom line, we wrote, was:

   We believe the program lays the groundwork for a solution at Coindre Hall

LI-DOG then asked to sit down with the Parks Dept. to discuss the program and our proposal further.

What did LI-DOG get in response to this invitation to sit down to discuss the situation at Coindre Hall? Not "yes, this sounds promising, let's talk about it," not "there are problems here, but let's talk about it," nor "we don't understand, let's talk about it."

No, the reply we received was "your chosen activity" affects the "historic value" of Coindre Hall. And, dog owners should find OTHER places where our "chosen activity does not interfere with the ability of people who don't own dogs to use the park without the impacts of unleashed animals."

At any rate, given LI-DOG's efforts over the past year and half to accommodate other park users, the statement to the Parks Trustees that "dog owners think they have a right to do whatever they want" is just plain wrong.

1. The statement that Coindre Hall is "too small" makes no sense. Since when is a 33-acre park small? Perhaps relative to Suffolk County's 50,000 acres of parkland, Coindre Hall is "small potatoes" to the Parks Dept., but as far as Huntington residents are concerned, 33 acres is a very large park that can, and does, accommodate a variety of uses.

2. Coindre Hall is "too busy with other things"? There are activities planned in the gym, there are rowing crews in the water, and there are catered affairs booked into the mansion. But, as noted in our Aug. 28th letter to Deputy Commissioner Bellone, on the most beautiful weekends throughout the spring and summer of 2006, while dog owners remained on the large field to the side of the gym during our Share the Park campaign, the rest of the property often remained vacant, and this was during the "busiest" time of the year.

At other times of the year, there is often no one at Coindre Hall but dog owners and their dogs. Coindre Hall is a large, isolated property. Fortunately, for the county and for the park's neighbors, dog owners are incredibly consistent users of the park. They are there almost every day during the winter, spring, summer and fall.

Suffolk County Parks has a serious vandalism problem with its building properties. The county clearly is unable to protect these properties. If it were not for dog owners, Coindre Hall would face the same vandalism problems plaguing other properties managed by the Parks Dept. The Parks Dept. needs to recognize the valuable role dog owners have played and will continue to play in keeping Coindre Hall safe from vandalism.

The only time that serious vandalism occurred at Coindre Hall was when the county stopped mowing the grass and dog owners and their dogs stopped coming to the park. The boathouse was then terribly vandalized. With local youth gangs on the rise and coming more often to check out the park, the main house would likely be devastated without our presence.

3. Regarding Coindre Hall's historic value and the statement in your letter that somehow our off-leash activities are affecting the historic value of Coindre Hall, this is just plain discriminatory and unfair. Are the catered affairs at Coindre Hall historic? Are the soccer clinics in the gym historic? What about the 8 cesspools buried under the main field to handle all the catered affairs in the mansion. Are they historic?

What's historic at Coindre Hall is what we bring to the park-animals! West Neck Farms, the proper name of the property itself, was a farm. We and our dogs belong at Coindre Hall/West Neck Farms far more than any fancy, catered affair.

Frankly, we cannot understand a Parks Dept. that seeks to eliminate a park's most dedicated, ardent supporters. Dog owners love Coindre Hall-they always have, they always will. And, a designated area at Coindre Hall is a great place for off-leash activities. The park is very large, there are few major competing activities such as soccer fields or playgrounds, and it is relatively isolated so there are not a lot of other users.

The fact that the Parks Dept., which should welcome responsible, committed users to its parkland, would seek to eliminate us raises serious questions as to the intended use of the park. This concern is further heightened by the fact that the department did not respond, in any way, to LI-DOG's offer to discuss a multi-purpose solution at Coindre Hall.

Neighborhood associations believe the Parks Dept. and the Trustees have a hidden agenda for the park, including plans for a major expansion of the catering facilities at Coindre Hall. In that expansion, not only will there be no room for dog owners at Coindre Hall, but also there will be no room for local Huntington residents either!

In your report to the Trustees, you state that you expect an "uproar" over your plans to eliminate dog owners from Coindre Hall. It's a good bet that if suspicions about the department's hidden agenda are correct, the "uproar" will come not only from dog owners, but from neighboring communities that surround Coindre Hall as well. None of us want to see our beloved park turned over to commercial interests. This is our park and Huntington residents will fight to keep it.

We have worked responsibly to create a safe and legal off-leash area at Coindre Hall for several years, through several county administrations and a number of Parks Commissioners. The Suffolk County Legislature even passed legislation by a 16-2 margin, championed by now Majority Leader Jon Cooper, establishing an off-leash dog area at Coindre Hall. As you know, the proposed location in that legislation is not ideal from either your, the neighbors' or our viewpoint.

Once again, we invite the Parks Dept. to sit down with LI-DOG to discuss a potential solution at Coindre Hall.

One other point brought up in your Sept. 7th letter referred to our work with the Parks Dept. in the last few months to help develop new dog parks at West Hills and Blydenburgh County parks. You say in your letter, "hopefully, these will be supported by you and your members." Let us be very clear: Of course, we and our members will support them. These off-leash areas are badly needed and we and our supporters have worked extremely hard getting the legislative support for these dog parks and working with the Parks Dept. to develop them.

Please be assured that we very much appreciate the work the Parks Dept. has done so far on the new West Hills dog run and we and our supporters are very eager to have that run open. Given that these dog parks were authorized by legislation that passed by overwhelming majorities in the Suffolk Legislature and that Leg. Lou D'Amaro, in particular, worked hard to secure funds for the West Hills run, we trust the department will work to move these two projects forward expeditiously.

We look forward to continuing to work with you to develop a solution at Coindre Hall that meets the needs of all of that park's users. We are confident that when you and the Park's Trustees finally sit down with us to hear our proposal, you will recognize it as fair, comprehensive, inclusive and beneficial to all park constituents.

As you are aware, over 40% of Suffolk County residents own dogs. In a county that covers such a large geographic area, surely you don't believe that two dog parks will meet the needs of this very large constituency? In fact, closing Coindre Hall to off-leash dog activities would only serve to cause overcrowding at the new West Hills dog run - creating a problem rather than solving one.

It is only through enlightened leadership in the Legislature that Suffolk has finally started to address the needs of dog owners as have so many other communities before it. It is now time for you, the Parks Dept. and the Parks Trustees to catch up with our legislative leaders and begin working with us on a constructive and supportive basis rather than treating us as a problem to be dealt with. We are good people and responsible citizens. We represent the interests of hundreds of thousands of Suffolk residents. We are passionate about our beloved Coindre Hall Park and we are not going away.

We are ready to give you our very best towards implementing a fair solution for Coindre Hall and ask you to now do the same. We will call your office in the near future to discuss how we can move forward together on this issue.

Sincerely,

Ginny Munger Kahn

Michael Marcotte

Barbara Buscareno
LI-DOG Representative
Coindre Hall Citizens Advisory Committee

Michael Kahn
LI-DOG Representative
Coindre Hall Citizens Advisory Committee

Cc: Steve Levy, Jon Cooper, Lou D'Amaro, Steve Stern, Tracey Bellone, Lance Millamo, John D'Esposito, John Ratay, Ray Corwin, Alexander McKay