ABC to take up canine cause

As a result of access policy changes at Piedmont Park ABC may soon be expanding its mandate and adopting a new mission statement:

The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign - making it easier and safer for you and your dog to bicycle in and around Atlanta.

The beautifully executed renovation of the Piedmont Park Active Oval, completed back in 2007, returned a long-lost luster to the soccer and softball fields that are a gathering point for league players from all quarters of the city, and created a much needed beach volleyball venue as well as a first-class jogging track. Sadly, though, these improvements were accompanied by a controversial - and seemingly unwarranted - access restriction, "no bicycle riding dogs".

Marc Merlin, Volunteer for Special Projects at ABC, noticed the new Oval use guidelines when he was bicycling through the Park shortly after they were first posted. "Honestly, I stopped my bike and did a double take to make sure that I had read the sign correctly. There it was, literally in black and white, shouting out in all capital letters, NO VEHICLES BICYCLE RIDING DOGS." Merlin continued, "the no vehicles part made sense to me, after all who wants some nut job on a Ducati treating the Oval like it was some sort of motocross course. But no bicycle riding dogs, what's the point of that? Jesus, how many bicycle riding dogs are there anyway?"

Although disturbed by the restriction, Merlin did little to pursue the matter until he became involved as a full-time volunteer with the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign last fall. ABC was then developing new guidelines to help steer its work, a set of goals appropriately dubbed The Mores.

We endeavor to promote, support and sustain:

That's when it clicked for Merlin, "why should we limit our efforts only to encouraging more people cycling, why not more people and their dogs?" For him the seemingly minor Piedmont Park slight loomed large as the precipice of a slippery slope, one inevitably leading to canine cycling restrictions in other parts of the city. Merlin insists, "we're not going to rollover and play dead on this issue!"

When reached for comment, Park spokeswoman and chair of the Active Oval Traffic Mitigation Task Force, Kitty Hundehasser, was at first taken aback. "Look," she explained, "we had to draw the line for accessing the Oval somewhere, and bicycle riding dogs seemed like a natural place to start. We didn't mean anything by it. Really."

The ABC board is scheduled to take up Merlin's proposed changes to the mission statement when it holds its monthly meeting April 9th.