From yesterday's Brooklyn Paper:
New “No dogs” signs in Prospect Park have unleashed a fury from dog owners who say park officials are arbitrarily enforcing regulations and unfairly targeting their four-legged friends.
The bright blue signs showed up on paths leading to the Long Meadow a few weeks ago, and remind dog walkers that their pets are not allowed on the grass — even on a leash — except during the designated off-leash hours.
The signs mention a $100 fine.
Park Sloper Seth Kamil spoke for many of his fellow dog owners when he suggested that the signs wrongly target canine aficionados while ignoring a bigger problem than the few dog lovers who walk their pets across the Long Meadow.
“The signs are fine, but what angers me is the inconsistent enforcement of the rules and policies,” said Kamil, who owns the Big Onion Walking Tour company. “[Park cops] strictly enforce dog rules, but they turn a blind eye to everything else that takes place in the park.”
Read the rest the rest, including a statement by a Prospect Park Alliance that until now there’s been a “grace period” in effect, but that the cops were now going to give tickets. Actually, a quick glance at the picture of the sign in the paper shows that the reporter has it wrong—it says that dogs aren’t allowed on the ballfields at all, at any time, not the whole Long Meadow outside dog hours. That is the law. As we’ve reported, the loose dog aficionados run their dogs, unleashed, on the ballfields (and, for that matter in the woods, where they’re never allowed), ignoring the law. So, as we’ve said time and time again, the unleashed lobby doesn’t feel itself bound by the law. They want the whole park, at all times. And while it’s nice to hear that the cops are supposedly going to ticket the scofflaws, we have good reason to be skeptical.
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Tuesday, 4:25 P.M.: 3 unleashed dogs on the Nethermead. 4:35 P.M., 1 unleashed dog on the east Lullwater path. All the owners were white.
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