That's the article, thanks. http://www.northcliffmelvilletimes.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2014/05/NT22KJemmarentiapa_553120675.jpg?4d339e Soon the owners of these dogs may have to pay entrance to walk them in Emmarentia Dam park. Emmarentia Dam and Johannesburg National Botanical Gardens’ regulars might be in for a shock – a walk in the beloved Johannesburg park might soon cost them. “The ward council are planning to start charging entrance at Emmarentia. They’ll close off all park entrances except two, and at those entrances people will have to pay for access,” Belinda Bruce-Brand told Northcliff Melville Times. Ward councillor Pat Brugman-Richards confirmed that it was true. “Emmarentia is a big entity,” she said. “It’s difficult to maintain. It has to become self-sustaining. The idea is to close off some of the gates,” she explained. “It’ll be exactly the same as other botanical gardens in the country – Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, for example. People will only have access to a few gates and they will be charged.” Emmarentia regulars have stood up against the council before. “In 2008, City Parks started putting up the fence to separate dog walkers from the rest of the park. We only heard about it through the grapevine, but we protested. We formed human chains. Thousands of people signed petitions within days. The court interdict that we won still exists,” Steven Kuny, the defacto chairman of the Environment Dog Groups of Emmarentia said. “It would be a great shame if people had to start paying to go into the park,” he added. “Originally, the title deeds to Emmarentia provided right of way to everyone. It might be contravening the law to change that. And we’re standing ready to fight this decision.” The council has discussed this motion, and they are planning to give the public a chance to speak. “We have a draft masterplan to implement. There will be public meetings though, and people will have their say. We don’t yet know when it will be implemented, or what it will cost. We will let people know when we do.” Bergman-Richards said that many Emmarentia regulars are contravening public bylaws. “Actually, I have a bone to pick with dog walkers at Emmarentia. Nobody picks up the dog poo anymore. The bylaws of Johannesburg stipulate that all dogs should be on leashes once they’re off their owner’s properties. But walkers at Emmarentia let their dogs run free – probably because that’s how they’ve done it historically. There are a lot of people that are not in control of their dogs.” Dog walkers and their charges aren’t the only contentious issue at the park. “Cyclists at Emmarentia are also a problem – they run down old people and children and seem to think they have right of way.” There’s a reason the park will have to start charging. “Not many people know this, but City Parks and the zoo has combined – they now share the same budget,” Bergman-Richards explained. “A lot of the money and equipment allocated to the parks is going to the zoo. And the new combined City Parks is considered least important of the city’s budgets. I don’t necessarily agree with this, but it (charging people) has to happen.” “Emmarentia Dam is something that makes the city liveable,” well-known Auckland park residents Keith Knowlton and Jane Griffiths said. They walk their dogs Tilu and Tosca at Emmarentia on an almost daily basis. “People will stop going there. We don’t want to pay daily. It’s a public space, charging at Emmarentia would be like charging to enter Central Park in New York.”
