There is fresh mulch around trees, and two new wooden benches -- one at the corner offering a shady spot to take a load off and watch the world go by. Defined paths, one mulch and one gravel, lead from the streets to a gate in a shiny new chain-link fence, and inside the fence the grass and weeds are neatly mown.

Here at downtown's edge is Durham's newest dog park. It's not quite official yet, but it's all ready for business nonetheless. And accepting contributions.

"It was a good feeling to take that land and do something positive," said Eleni Vlachos, one of the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood homeowners who had the inspiration.

"Why not get some good use out of it?" said Beth Timson, assistant director of the city parks department.

The lots now occupied by the dog park have been public property since downtown's urban renewal in the 1970s. With a steep slope dropping toward Queen Street, they present a challenge for developers and have sat, cleared and vacant, for decades.

Until 2007, that is, when the city offered it for sale to nonprofits for $1 and Housing for New Hope proposed to buy the land and put up 10 low-cost apartments for homeless individuals. That set off alarms in Cleveland-Holloway, a reviving neighborhood already home to 11 halfway houses, homeless shelters, low-cost apartment complexes and other social-service properties.

The neighborhood managed to stop the sale, urging that the property instead be put to use for the surrounding community: a park, neighborhood garden or something along that line. Or a dog park.

"A number of us have dogs and there are a lot of dogs downtown," Vlachos said. (First Presbyterian Church Pastor Joe Harvard said last week he could tell that downtown has revived because he sees people walking dogs there now.)

Vlachos said she and neighbor Natalie Spring pitched the idea to City Manager Tom Bonfield and the parks department.

"We had not really been thinking about it," said Timson; but, she said, "There is a great demand. We must have 1,500 dogs registered by now" for the dog parks already opened at Pineywood and Northgate parks.

Demand notwithstanding, "We're not flush with money," said Timson; but the city and the neighborhood worked out a temporary arrangement by which the city allowed use of the land and put up a fence while the neighborhood association is responsible for other amenities and maintenance.

So far, so good.

"We were all pretty dedicated volunteers," Vlachos said. "We weren't going to be like the kid who says 'I want a dog. I'll take care of it every day' " but the parents end up with the job.

Last Saturday was a cleanup day, and despite rain, mist and chill, the neighbors turned out and transformed the weedy vacant lot into a tidy park in progress. And they've arranged with Keep Durham Beautiful to accept tax-deductible contributions for items such as mulch, gravel and lumber.

Little remains to be done except the city installing park rules signs like those at the other dog parks. That should be done within the next two weeks, Vlachos said.

Still, the Downtown Dog Park is an experiment for the time being. The neighborhood's arrangement with the city is for two years only; and if a buyer comes along the property is still for sale.

"We're hoping that doesn't happen," Vlachos said. "It's been sitting there so long."

After two years, the city and the neighborhood will reconsider.

"It could be a temporary dog park, it could be a long-term dog park," said Timson. "It's not an unattractive piece of property at the rate downtown is expanding. [But] meanwhile why not get some good use out of it?"