The 103rd. St. Monks pause and watch a dog pass by.
When friends with dogs told me that it was okay for dogs to run off lead in the park during the early morning and late at night, I thought it was an unofficial standardized turning of the head on the part of park employees to give the dogs a break.
But as it turns out, it's an official unofficial policy. A judge in Queens ruled against a civic group attempting to put the kabosh on the practice by using the city health code. The judge ruled that the parks commissioner could decide when and where dogs could run around without a lead in the city parks.
Adrian Benepe the parks commissioner said,"We believe that the last 20 years of this policy have worked, and it's gratifying to have that support by the judge."
Wow, there's been twenty years of the official unofficial policy. I wonder how one finds out the straight scoop on when and where a dog can do this? I've never seen the policy written down anywhere. And if it is, it isn't written very big.
No wonder there is so much confusion about it.
Some interesting stats from am New York,
City Parks: 1,700
City Dogs: 14 million
Dog Runs: 44
Ahhhh, divide 14 million dogs into 44 dog runs--
A tangential thought, One of the infamous "word problems" from elementary school math.
The defecations of all NYC dogs, averaging the big dogs and the teeny dog comes out to, very conservatively, a quarter pound per dog per day. How many million pounds of dog poop are created daily in New York City?
Extra Credit: How many garbage trucks per day would it take to carry it all to the landfill?
And the last statistic-
Dog Bites in Parks in 2005: 86
Dozing on the fire escape before bed. The other bird is wide awake, just in case.
Keeping a vigilant eye out.
(Saturday, Sam and I are taking a jaunt to Central Park to watch for RTs from the Hawk Bench for a while. If you're going to be out, wear your woolies, the temp has sunk and the wind is gusting to 50 MPH.)
Donegal Browne
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