Pit Bulls Banned from NYC Public Housing; Pit Bull Mauls Cat

According to this report in today's New York Daily News, under new Housing Authority regulations, dobermans, rottweilers and all other dogs over 25 pounds are also banned from NYC public housing. Presumably, it's largely apartment dwellers who feel the need to run their big dogs in the parks, so this ban would would reduce off-leash activity in the parks if only the off-leash dog owners largely lived in public housing, but that would appear not to be the case. Perhaps it's time for the City Council (or the State Legislature) to ban these breeds and all large dogs from all multiple dwellings in the city.

And, come to think of it, if these dogs are too dangerous to allow in public housing, why are they allowed to run loose in the parks?

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See this discussion on the Brownstoner forum about a leashed pit bull mauling the cat and the cop refusing to become involved. As the last posted comment points out (and as we noted in a similar case on 1/20/08), under the law as it applies in NYC, the cops were right.

And then there are the comments, some of which open an interesting window on dogs and race in gentrifying Brooklyn. First by "Iz", addressed to someone who suggested that the story was a race issue:

It's definitely a race issue. I've always found that black people tend to have really vicious cats that threaten white people, who have taken to training their dogs to defend them against said black people's cat attacks. I'm just really glad that the dog and dog owner survived what could have been a real tragedy for the scared white community and a terrible scandal for the black community and their mean, racist cats.

Here's the response of "Dave", who apparently didn't realize that Iz was being sarcastic:

I have to disagree. I've had cats visit my yard that are owned by black people and they are all well behaved; both the cats and the owners. I don't know where in the ghetto you live. This will become a bigger problem as Asshats (What's code for white people) continue to expand their colonization of the nabes. All I can say is don't let these cats see you cringe in fear or you're likely to get fur on your pants.

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Between 7:30 and 9 this morning, there were at least four unleashed dogs in the Central Park ramble, including this one.

Also running loose in the Ramble were what appeared to be the dog involved in last weeks's to-do, in the same area to boot (this time the owner was out of sight), and a large poodle that, judging from the barking and angry shouts, disturbed some leashed dogs. And at around 9:10 A.M. a large dog was running loose on the lawn near Bow Bridge. A patrol car drove slowly through the Ramble around 8 A.M., but of course that's the wrong way to enforce this law: instead, dog owners need to be made to believe that the fellow with binoculars might well be an undercover cop or PEP agent just itching to issue a summons.