You know, in order to post on other matters, I may have to introduce a new blog--Stuy Town Dog Wars--that will just deal with this pesky issue of non-compliance of the ST/PCV dog rules by a good number of dog owners in this complex. There's important conversion plan news and debate up ahead, the future of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, so let's finalize this dog issue for the moment.
Those of you who read Town & Village saw the above Sept. 23rd front page item about rude dog owners, which continued on for two pages inside the newspaper. Dog owners who are not only rude but aggressive against anyone who reminds them that they are not following the dog rules they agreed to follow when they acquired a dog (or dogs) in this complex. In the article, a resident states that, within ten days, he got into two altercations with dog owners who had their pets off leash. One of the owners, when reminded by the resident of the rule of dogs needing to be on a leash, responded with slurs, including, "You wanna do something about it, faggot?" The other owner admitted, when asked, that she wasn't a resident of Stuy Town, before retracting that statement and replying that she had a right to break the rules!
Worse, when the resident complained to security about the dog owners, he was told that security has been instructed by management to do nothing! A spokesperson for Tishman Speyer (may this company's name and Rob Speyer's name live in perpetual infamy in NYC history) refuted that, stating that security does enforce the rules. [Personally, I've seen occasional enforcement in the Oval grass area, but no place else. That's if security is around, which more often they are not.]
In another case, a Peter Cooper resident says the sight of unleashed dogs is common in PCV. When she confronted a man about his unleashed dog, his response was that the rules did not apply to him. In another incident, when she addressed a man who was walking his unleashed dog around the Oval, the man "started screaming, saying he was going to report me, that I was assaulting him." [Hm, this kind of skewered view where the person in the wrong is the one who feels put upon reminds me of something recent....]
Folks, this kind of lax, arrogant behavior on the part of bad dog owners has got to stop. If security is not up to the task, then we as residents (non-dog owners and dog owners alike) who care about how this space looks and what makes it breathable (disregarding the terrible things done to it by Speyer & Company) have to speak up. I'm not necessarily concerned about a dog along a patch of non-Oval grass, but dogs urinating on flowers and trees (which I've frequently seen), being in flower beds (ditto), being off leash or on retractable leashes stretching out longer than six feet are a definite problem, as are dogs running around in one of the playgrounds. (Today I witnessed a dog taking a crap in the middle of the AstroTurf playground.) If we put the pressure on, bad dog owners will get the message. At least most of them. To remain completely silent, either by not addressing the issue to the dog owner him/herself or to management/security, is just letting this place go to the dogs.
P.S. Perhaps it's too late now with a new management soon taking over (though that shouldn't stop enforcement of the rules), but it may be a good idea for whoever is in charge of the complex now or will be in the future to post in every building a dog rules "reminder" and a warning of dog rule enforcement.
10 comments:
this is the reason some people have cats because you don't have to walk a cat or pick up after a cat just put out a box for poop and some meow mix and your work is done. and shots.
people who let their dogs poop on the sidewalk are ruining this neighborhood and the sooner they are gone the better and it will be quieter too. no more violence
another great post STR!
STR, rotten as the dog owners and students are (and I'm serious) the biggest threat/issue right now is all the filthy, hungry sharks that are circling the property and may be even worse (if that's possible!) than the predatory, amoral Tishman Speyer. We really need to stay tuned in to the foreclosure on Monday because there are ruthless, greed-crazed predators closing in on us.
Great reiteration STR!
I've been taking hot baths a lot since last night, when I slipped and fell on the sidewalk on the 16th St/18th St. loop road. The fall was bad and has exacerbated my already bad back.
Why did I slip and fall? Because of a big pile of dog poop that had been left on the sidewalk -- semi-camoflaged near the front of a parked car! It wasn't a left-behind smear from an inadequate doggy cleanup. It was a huge pile left by a dog owner who doesn't care. Obviously, negligence caused my fall -- negligence on the part of the dog owner AND negligence on the part of security that allows this sort of thing to continue.
I watched a woman walk her very large dog onto the base of the Avenue A flagpole and watch him as he lifted his leg and pissed right where people sit and kids play.
Disgusting.
Tonight: In the short trip to and from the rent drop off (8 min. trip) I saw #1. A woman with a little white dog walking on the Oval's grass. She let the dog poop and when I asked her why, she simply "threw me the finger." #2: A guy walking two dogs -- one of them a big white dog that looked well over the 50 lb. limit. He was letting them poop and pee on the lawn. When I asked him why he had no response. I guess I should be happy that he was civil enough to not give me the finger.
I saw a number of dog owners with two large dogs whose combined weight must surely be over the 80lb limit.
BTW, that woman with the little white dog.... Nah, couldn't be.
Stuytown should just reserve 1 playground, 1 area really, as a dog park. What did they expect when they decided to allow tenants to own dogs? You have to walk your dog outside someplace. And many dog owners I know don't let their dogs go in the flowers, only on the grass! I don't see half as much dog poop as I do other filth and litter and so many darn cigarette butts!
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