Going to the Dogs?

I am glad that more attention is being drawn to the off-leash and pooper-scooper violations situation. On my block, West 87th between Riverside Drive and West End Avenue (the gateway to the West 87th St. dog-run) it is an every day occurrence. Effective enforcement is nonexistent. The Dept. of Sanitation is tasked with writing pooper-scooper violations but they have only a handful of agents to police the entire city. The Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene is tasked with enforcement of off-leash laws. The problem is that they have no field agents. They expect to be given the name, address and a picture of the violator, so they can then go make a house-call at a later time! The NYPD is no longer empowered to write tickets for these types of violations. Of course they will be called whenever an incident escalates, so this is obviously a reactive policy where a proactive policy makes more sense. Something more should be done as this block, and from what I understand, many areas of the city are literally going to the dogs.

Mike Hunter

West 87th Street