Dog Park for
Oakland, N.J.

Leading the charge since Spring 2009, Ryan advocated for a dog park in Oakland, NJ for over 12 years. The idea of a dog park started after his family got their dog, Scooby. His mother learned that not only walks, but running around and socializing were good for a dog's health and well-being and told Ryan that maybe his 8th grade project to graduate from Valley Middle School could be try and bring a dog park to the community.

The project took a different turn however when Ryan's mom Jill, passed away in August 2012 due to cancer. Since then, Ryan had decided to name the park in her memory.

Major progress started to occur in 2012 as the concept of a dog park was added to a plan for a new park, Great Oak Park, which was proposed for the Pleasureland/Muller's Park property near the Oakland Shoprite. After public meetings occurred that gathered public input, a park committee was formed to investigate what would be allowed on the property.
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From left to right, Oakland Councilman Eric Kulmala, Oakland Mayor Linda Schwager, Ryan Schwertfeger, and Oakland Councilwoman Sandra Coira.
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Park Chairman Mike Guadagnino, Ryan Schwertfeger, and Dirk Schwertfeger (Ryan's dad) at a park cleanup day where the proposed dog park area was being worked on.
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Photo of excavating and boulder placement work at the dog park site in October 2020.
The Great Oak Park Committee and a local non-profit worked with Ryan over several years to secure the necessary funding to pay for the proposed dog park, as well as achieve successes within the Great Oak Park development that would be required for a dog park to come to fruition. Ryan received approvals in late 2019 and early 2020 to start construction of the dog park.

Many residents signed up to volunteer and/or to donate funds towards the cause as Ryan spent much time reaching out to different organizations, businesses, and individuals to drum up support. His Dog Park facebook page reached over 1,200 likes and was written about in numerous local media publications!

Ryan raised approximately $50,000 in monetary donations and over $50,000 in pledged donations for the project. He was also named Oakland's "Hometown Hero" in December 2020 by Congressman Josh Gottheimer for all of his efforts.

Additional information can be found on the dog park website in addition to the dog park Facebook page. The dog park opened with much fanfare to the public during Mother's Day weekend 2021.
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The ribbon cutting ceremony which took place in May 2021.

Public Opinion Polls for Oakland, N.J.

With a major mid-term election occurring in 2010, Ryan watched the news and the polling information very carefully to see what the American populace was thinking ahead of the election. However, he was upset that nothing existed to really show the thoughts and opinions of more local people. So, he decided to create his own poll to ask Oakland residents their opinions about local and national issues.

Ryan saw how much influence local polling has had on the town of Oakland with people commenting on the results and officials even referencing the work he had done to make their point or start a worthwhile discussion. Also, many of the candidates running for office were interviewed on camera by Ryan, so local residents were able to get to know the candidates on the ballot to the best of their ability. Some videos have received several hundred views and one candidate even noted that, "It seems the release of Ryan Schwertfeger's candidate interviews has become the unofficial start of the campaign season in Oakland..."

You can check out the polling website here.
Ryan also attends almost every Borough Council meeting, and when he can't be there in person, he'll record the meetings in order to see what he missed since he wants to be in the know what is happening in the community.

Ryan is not afraid to speak his mind and has on many occasions, spoken at Borough Council meetings or had lengthy conversations with elected officials about his point of view on a current issue going on in town. He enjoys learning what is going on and seeing how local officials make the decisions they make - with the goal of improving the lives for their residents, as opposed to their own self.