Brandon Dill
Tina Hamilton (left) and her Great Dane, Dominic, relax with Allison Tribo and her dog, Foxy, inside Overton Bark dog park.
Overton Bark Reopens
Dog parks across the city reopened Thursday. Rejoice! (Or, wag your tail enthusiastically.)
Here’s what Overton Park says about visiting its much-loved Overton Bark:
We ask that you wear a face covering in the dog park, keep a safe distance between yourself and other visitors, and avoid the use of shared toys and water dishes. Please bring water for your dogs, as park water fountains are shut off due to the risk of spreading COVID-19. We’ve provided hand-washing stations near the Rainbow Lake and East Parkway pavilions.
What’s a “safe” distance? The city of Memphis has you covered here:
While Overton Bark has been free of furry feet for a while now, it’s still been exposed to the elements. Tomorrow morning, our landscaping crew will be weeding and cleaning up sweetgum balls, and next Wednesday the 26th, we’ll begin installing a fresh blanket of wood fiber surfacing, which keeps the ground comfy for the dogs and makes the area wheelchair-accessible. On both days, we will leave one side of the dog park open as the other side undergoes maintenance.
Airbnb bans parties
Airbnb/Facebook
The house-sharing platform announced a global ban on parties and events at all Airbnb listings and an occupancy cap of 16. The ban is in place until further notice.
Here’s what the company says about the ban:
Unauthorized parties have always been prohibited at Airbnb listings. In fact, 73 percent of our listings globally already ban parties in their house rules, and the vast majority of our guests behave in manners that show respect for house rules and for neighbors. We’ve historically allowed hosts to use their best judgment and authorize small parties — such as baby showers or birthday parties — if they’re appropriate for their home and their neighborhood.
Last year, we began imposing much stricter limits — starting with a global ban on “party houses” – meaning, listings that create persistent neighborhood nuisance. We also launched a 24/7 neighborhood support hotline in the U.S. and Canada — with plans for global expansion — to communicate directly with neighbors and help us effectively enforce the party house ban.
When the pandemic was declared, and social distancing became an important element in promoting public health and responsible travel, we updated our policies. We started by removing both the “event-friendly” search filter from our platform as well as “parties and events allowed” house rules from any event-friendly listings. Most importantly, we introduced a new policy requiring all users to adhere to local COVID-19 public health mandates.
[pullquote-1-center] However, in many large jurisdictions, public health mandates on gatherings have changed –— and in some places swung back and forth in response to the changing rates of COVID cases — as have regulations on bars, clubs and pubs. Some have chosen to take bar and club behavior to homes, sometimes rented through our platform. We think such conduct is incredibly irresponsible — we do not want that type of business, and anyone engaged in or allowing that behavior does not belong on our platform.
Based on these developments, instituting a global ban on parties and events is in the best interest of public health.
Here’s how the ban will work:
• Parties are now prohibited on all future bookings
• Occupancy at Airbnb listings will be capped at 16 people. This is primarily relevant to larger homes that we previously allowed to list as able to accommodate 16+ people.
• We are currently scoping a potential exception process for specialty and traditional hospitality venues (i.e. boutique hotels)
• Guests will be informed about Airbnb’s party rules and informed that they may be legally pursued by Airbnb if they violate our policy. This work is currently being operationalized and will be rolled out in the near future.
