NYT Article-When the Smoking Gun Looks a Lot Like a Leash
liz...@gmail.com
> To: CooperBark <coope...@yahoogroups.com>
So...How dog friendly are we in NYC?!
--Lizz
> From: "Mark Borino" <mbo...@gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 09:00:04 -0400
> Subject: [CooperBark] Fwd: When the Smoking Gun
> Looks a Lot Like a Leash
>
> Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 20:31:34 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Robert Marino <ramny...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: NYTimes/St. Nicolas Park, Hamilton
> Hts.,Juniper Park
>
> NEW YORK TIMES
> SUNDAY, MAY 7th
> CITY SECTION
>
> DOGS OFF-LEASH, TICKETS, LAWSUITS, DOG PARKS (RUNS)
>
>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> May 7, 2006
> Hamilton Heights
> When the Smoking Gun Looks a Lot Like a Leash
> By JEREMY SMERD
> VANEIK ECHEVERRIA had just let his dog off its leash
> at the entrance of St. Nicholas Park one recent
> evening when a police car flashed its lights, pulled
> a
> quick U-turn and drove into the park behind him.
>
> Mr. Echeverria, a 31-year-old actor who lives in
> Hamilton Heights, a few blocks from the park, had
> broken the law by letting Kioko, his 6-year-old
> pointer-whippet mix, roam free, and the officers
> went
> after him.
>
> "The way the police reacted, it was as if this was
> the
> worst thing going on in our neighborhood," he said,
> recalling the incident.
>
> It may well have been. Major crime has fallen 54
> percent in the neighborhood over the last decade,
> according to police statistics. Nowhere is the
> change
> more evident than in the hilly 22-acre park running
> from 128th to 141st Streets along St. Nicholas
> Avenue.
> As crime has dropped, the number of people who let
> their dogs frolic in the park has grown. And some
> are
> running afoul of the law.
>
> Minutes after Kioko was back on his leash, his owner
> was in handcuffs. A background check revealed that a
> warrant had been issued for his arrest because he
> had
> not appeared before a judge for a summons issued for
> the same offense.
>
> Mr. Echeverria called his landlady, who took the dog
> home. He then spent six hours in a jail cell
> downtown,
> he said, before a judge dismissed the charges.
>
> The New York Police Department does not keep
> statistics on the number of tickets issued to people
> who violate leash laws, according to a spokeswoman,
> Doris Garcia, who said residents in the neighborhood
> had not filed any complaints about the ticketing.
>
> Informal Parks Department policy allows dogs to go
> without leashes in city parks between 9 p.m. and 9
> a.m. (Mr. Echeverria's arrest came at 6:30 p.m.),
> but
> police officers do not necessarily look the other
> way
> during those hours. Around 9:30 p.m. a few days
> after
> Mr. Echeverria's arrest, Wanda Bonilla was running
> her
> three Rottweilers up one of St. Nicholas Park's
> slopes
> when a police officer's flashlight cut through the
> dark. Ms. Bonilla had also failed to appear before a
> judge for a previous summons she had received for
> letting her dogs off leash, and within half an hour,
> she found herself in handcuffs in the 26th Precinct
> station house.
>
> "If we had a dog run, a lot of this could have been
> avoided," said Ms. Bonilla, a research assistant who
> lives in the neighborhood. She received a sharp
> reprimand from a judge, she said, because her dogs
> are
> considered an aggressive breed.
>
> Enforcement of the city's leash laws has long been a
> contentious issue. A Queens homeowners association,
> citing a rash of dog bites in Juniper Valley Park in
> Middle Village, recently sued the city, alleging
> that
> it had not adequately enforced its leash laws.
>
> In 2003, 78 dog owners on the Upper West Side
> alleged
> in a class-action lawsuit that the city had violated
> the 14th Amendment's equal-protection clause by
> ticketing dog walkers in Riverside Park during the
> dusk-to-dawn reprieve, but turning a blind eye to
> people walking dogs in Central Park at the same
> time.
> That lawsuit has since been dropped. "We try to
> please
> all our constituencies, but you can't please
> everyone," said a parks spokesman, Phil Abramson.
>
> Some dog owners who live near St. Nicholas Park have
> renewed efforts to build a dog run there. Shawn
> Milligan, 39, an executive assistant and one of the
> effort's organizers, said a run would protect people
> and other dogs whose owners obey the law. "A dog
> roaming around the park can be scary," he said.
>
> William Castro, the Manhattan borough commissioner
> for
> parks, said he supported the idea of a dog run at
> the
> park but wanted to hear more from the community
> before
> approving it.
>
> In the meantime, some dog owners say they will
> continue to nervously flout a law they think is
> unreasonable. "We're out here like crack dealers,"
> Mr.
> Echeverria said, "always looking over our
> shoulders."
>
Pam
at least the city tries to alot areas for dogs and their
companions.....Long Island has nothing, actually out here in Suffolk,
we have one in adequate dog park.....LI- Dog (www.lildog.org) is trying
our best to change this.....today we went out and got 100 more people
involved in our cause.......
If there is anything I can do for the city parks which I also
use.....as a NYS resident please let me know.....petitions, rallies,
maybe on August 26th we can make a statement about becoming more dog
friendly to the media.....a well thought out little speech about how
things are in America vs. NY.......whatcha think?!?!?!?!?
Pam