While many of the members of Friends of Bushrod Park are going to appear to be very PRO-DOG INTEGRATION, we WANT to include any local resident committed to coming to the table to bring forth creative, considerate, community minded solutions.

We WANT to preserve the value of the park to non-dog-owners, while finding a way to also meet the needs of dog-owners and their companions.

We WANT to build community, and revel in the success of meeting the modern needs of local residents. We WANT to be a success story.

This ONLY HAPPENS with the participation of ALL PARTIES who have a vested interest. Please GET INVOLVED if you have an opinion AND share YOUR GOALS so they can be added to the list of solution ideas and targets.

This page is a work in progress. Check back soon for updates.

On Friday, 9/25, FOBP member Nichole Nadkarni (referred to as I/me in notes below) had an introductory call with NOLL/SOLL President, Joe Goldberg (referred to as you). Here's a summary of the conversation that took place.

- we connected with respect and lead with assuming competence towards eachother. For me personally, it felt like that allowed us to have a very productive conversation during our half hour call.

-you told me of other stakeholders you knew of who use Bushrod Park regularly for activities (huge thanks!)

-we talked about the Desire Path phenomenon (similar to what we discussed with Dir-Hammock + ACA-Phillips yesterday) and it sounds like we’re mostly on the same page in understanding how that works especially as it pertains to owners + dog companions ending up at Bushrod Park

-we talked a little bit about the differences in decision trees of the immediate and hyper local focus and need facing owners + dog companion users that lead them to execute Desire Path behavior and how that compares to driving activity at the park through organized activities (whether Rec Center led or organized league like NOLLSOLL)

-we talked about the COVID/post-COVID impact on lack of maintenance -and owner and dog companion regular use of the fields during the suspension of regular operations at Bushrod Rec Center and Fields

-we talked about the effort the sports leagues, especially NOLLSOLL have put in to recover the condition of the fields (esp the commitment of volunteers)

-we talked about some personal positions on potential solutions, which I think you already commented to me on the website

-we discussed the challenge posed by folks bringing in multiple dogs to the field with only one human to keep watch (especially and specifics the challenge of commercial dog walkers bringing in packs of dogs), and/or the challenge for owners who are distracted by phones or other activities to keep vigilant watch over their dog companions’ activities while at the park.

-I asked you to share with me your big idea wants for Bushrod Park, as the working vision for FOBP right now isn’t JUST to get the owner + dog companion needs solved (however it gets solved) but also to potentially support the needs of other groups through advocacy, fundraising, volunteer rallying, whatever else we can figure out to do. I asked you to tell me all the big ideas, and we can whittle down later once we know what kind of support we can rally.

-we closed the call with thanks and a feeling of mutual respect and gratitude for the opportunity to connect.

___

NEXT STEPS:

->Email to be sent to schedule meeting with George Henderson, Director @ Bushrod Parks Rec Center

->Email to be sent to schedule meeting with Joe Devries, Director @Oakland Animal Services

->Scheduling of more meetings with OPRYD to learn more about the facilities needs, programming, and more at Bushrod Park

->Soon to begin outlining a matrix that will help all stakeholders to compare the needs of larger functional league and city rec orgs, as well as independent local resident users (ex: like owner + companion dog users)

UPDATED: 9/29/26 - 8:22pm - by Nichole Nadkarni

SUMMARY OF MEETING TODAY 9/24/26

Attendees:

Myka Hammock, Director OPRYD

Michelle Phillips, Assistant City Administrator

Nichole + Aditya Nadkarni, Friends of Bushrod Park

Norm Setting and Objectives: All parties went into this discussion establishing boundaries of mutual respect, holding space for ‘everyone’s needs’ in our community with a forward thinking and solution oriented mindset.

On behalf of Friends of Bushrod Park (FOBP), we understand that ACA Michelle and Director Myka may have limitations in the decision-making and final outcome, but are also the leaders engaging with the community and have the ability to influence key decision makers.

GOALS

-Gain Clarity on the Identified Problem : Alignment on key issues; Are we all on the same page? What information is FOBP missing so that we can communicate this back to the local neighborhood folks?)

- Share Deeper Insight to the Desire Path and the User Experience (UX) of residents with dog companions; that Nichole and Aditya have devoted a significant amount of time to deep dive and literally map out “Why does the Desire Path continue and how does it end?”

- Clarify the “Actions of Unification” now taking place by FOBP to consolidate information and communicate more succinctly, to all local Bushrod neighborhood residents, but especially the sub-group with dog companions who desire sanctioned access at Bushrod Park

- Oakland Parks, Recreation, and Youth Development (OPRYD) (Director - Myka Hammock)

- City of Oakland (Assistant City Administrator (ACA)- Michelle Phillips)

- Local City Council Member - Zac Unger

- Bushrod Programming Director - George Henderson

- NOLLSOLL President - Joe Goldberg

- Oakland Baseball Foundation

- ANY OTHER stakeholders (anyone missing can send us a heads up HERE)

-Identify and Clarify Next Steps

PRESENTATION + DISCUSSION: Aditya presented a document (LINK) outlining the need demonstrated by local Bushrod Residents for accommodation at Bushrod park for themselves and their pet companions.

The presentation focused on:

1. Presenting data around North Oakland demographics

2. Decision Trees and Challenges residents face in attempting to solve their needs and those of their pet companions, illustrating how Bushrod Park has become a Desire Path for residents with pet companions (all present understand civic definition/nuances of “Desire Path” and its Codification)

3. Documentation of Conditions of current local solutions for residents and their dog companions

4. Documentation of Conditions of other recreational needs historically being met at Bushrod Park

5. Documentation of the Core Mechanics of Desire Path Codification

6. Reference to 2013 Oakland PRAC recommendations regarding parks, pertinent to unmet need for more sanctioned dog recreation spaces.

7. An acknowledgement of the other programming currently supported at Bushrod Park, as well as the historical ties to Baseball served by this park

8. Documentation of Status of previous PRAC recommendations + Park Funding

9. An outline of FOBP’s current understanding of Next Steps per the PRAC process

10. A summary of the meeting outline (submitted before we met) and a list of suggested next steps and questions remaining to be answered.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next Steps / Action Items:

FOBP

Coordinate with Kiley @ OPRYD to schedule a walk through and observation at Bushrod Park

Share links with ACA Phillips and OPRYD/Director Hammock all Documents Presented, summary of Sources Cited

Create consolidated list and solution matrix of proposals from ALL community submissions with regards to Bushrod Park -> Resident Owner+ Dog Companion Accommodations

Meet with additional stakeholders (NOLLSOLL, Bushrod Recreation Center folks, etc) to establish relationships, share the same “Presentation of Advocacy/Bushrod Desire Path Issue” presented to ACA Phillips and Director Hammock, document stakeholder needs + concerns, followed by summary of meeting/findings and update to neighborhood residents via FOBP website and various social media groups

Communicate when we are going to be communicating to residents, so ACA Phillips and OPRYD/Director Hammock can further and more broadly distribute communications

Make posts inviting more participation in FOBP at Bushrod Park and the surrounding residential streets>> after we speak with Bushrod Rec Center leadership

Begin to Document a timeline and list future Action Steps with Goal Timeframes

ACA Phillips and OPRYD Director Hammock

Follow up with other invested city stakeholders to facilitate and align with necessary parties at upcoming scheduled meetings

Continue to provide guidance and be responsive to FOBP on knowledge gaps + city process requirements and best practices as the process evolves

--

Aditya & Nichole (FOBP) update posted 7:05pm 9/24/26

History of recent events that have facilitated the goals of Friends of Bushrod Park:

9/16/26 - many residents met with local City Council Representative Zac Unger at Memorial Tabernacle Church to discuss concerns of dog-owner residents' unofficial decades long use of the park, as well as the concerns of human-centered recreational users who want to use the park without fear or concern for interference with dogs.

Next Steps:

Friends of Bushrod Park plans to attend an upcoming PRAC meeting, which is located here: Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland, CA 94612 every 2nd Wed of the month, starting at 4:30pm. We have to submit a request for comment to get on the meeting agenda.

From there, we will get more clarity on what the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission has to tell us about what kind of information they will require from FOBP to put forth any ideal solutions.

After that, we anticipate we will have some ground work to do like assist in facilitating surveys, gathering sigantures, brainstorming how we can assist the city with the financial aspects of accommodating the needs of dog-owner users + their companions at Bushrod Park.

We will be getting in touch with local stakeholders such as the director of Bushrod's Community Center and events. We are actively collecting names of any and all community stakeholders we anticipate may be required for input in the process of updating the use-terms of Bushrod Park.

After we have all information together, it sounds like we would have to meet with PRAC again in the future to present a case for the best solutions we want to propose, with the support of our council member, Zac Unger.

Finally, it sounds like PRAC takes that information, makes their own determinations, and then votes on if/how/when/etc to confirm what changes will be made at Bushrod Park.

AT THIS TIME - Thursday, 9/17/26 @9:45pm.... this is what we understand. We are currently working on the fly to get all information collected, organized, and reflected right back here on this website so that ALL PARTIES can stay informed.

HOW CAN YOU BE NOTIFIED TO COME BACK TO THIS SITE WHEN NEW INFO GOES UP

We will post updates to check back on this site via the Bushrod Dog Community and the Being Neighborly: North Oakland groups on Facebook and Nextdoor.com. Maybe we can have a mailing group in the near future, but we need hands for that bc that takes time.