Coming off Orrin's 15 minutes of infamy when his ferbissenah punim was splashed all over the pages of that bastion of fine journalism, the NY Post, our Dear Orrin dives into each new issue with relish, perhaps hoping the Post will run another article about his unholy jihad against NYC dogs and dog owners.
But wait! Just this morning, Dear Orrin sees an article completely unrelated to the NYC Parks Off-leash Hours policy and thinks that this error will be another great distortion to add to his bag of tricks as he unsuccessfully tries to discredit the successful 20+ year NYC Parks off-leash hours policy.
In today's NY Post article, the headline erroneously states "BITES SOAR AS BUREAUCRATS BUNGLE". In the body of the article, the reporter states that in NYC in the last reportable year, dog bites reported to the City Department of Health, was 3,537. There's no reference to other years or any indication why the Post editorial department decided to headline the article "Bites Soar..."
In fact, just the opposite is true. In the last reported year before the Off-leash Hour Policy became "official" in 2007--that is codified by both the DOH and the Parks Department--there were a total of 3,956 reported bites in NYC (of which only 86, which is 2.2%, took place in a NYC Park).
This means that instead of BITES SOAR, the headline should have read BITES PLUMMET. In fact, there were 419 less bites--a drop of over 10%!!!
Poor Orrin, quoting wrong statistics makes him even more laughable. It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for him and his micro-ilk. Almost.
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9 comments:
What is a "micro ilk"?
Off leash has been successful for dog owners. Not people who are uncomfortable around dogs or the mess some dog owners leave behind.
My Dear Winston. Welcome to the party; better late than never.
Micro ilk is my own description of to describe the handful of anti-offleash jihadists who two years ago failed to kill the successful 20+ year policy in NYS Supreme Court, who then failed to prevent the NYC Board of Health from unanaimously amending the "leash law" to specifically allow the NYC Parks Commissioner to promulgate said policy, and they failed a third time when the NYC Parks Department codified the policy after 20+ years of an "unofficial experiment."
You might be interested to learn that in NYC during the time before Off-leash Hours and enclosed dog runs, dog bites stats ran at over 40,000/year. The lastest stats quoted by the NY Post article have the number at around 3,500 (a drop of over 90%!!!). And this is with significantly more dogs, so the rate is far less.
Unless the fundamental nature of dogs have changed, one of the reasons is that dogs are far better socialized, exercised, less territorial. Responsible dog owners keep their dogs on leash in public except where permitted, which includes the 45 enclosed dog runs and the 89 designated off-leash areas in all five boroughs.
I'm uncomfortable around certain activities in the park, such as my fear of being hit in the head by a baseball, being tackled by a football player, or being hit by a speeding bicycle. My answer? I avoid those activities when they occur. The park is big enough.
For those who are afraid of off-leash dogs; they can avoid the 3 designated areas before 9am or after 9pm, and allow the hundreds of people who enjoy these activities to recreate peacefully.
I don't begrudge football or baseball players or speeding cyclists their time in the park.
Regarding the "mess" some dog owners leave behind. Every day in the Long Meadow, Nethermead and Penninsula, hundreds of dogs and their owners recreate before 9am. I challenge anyone to find a "mess" that is not cleaned up. Anyone who wouldn't clean up their mess would ignore other park rules.
Thankfully the off-leash rejectionist jihadists failed miserably in their attempt to kill a policy that benefits all New Yorkers, both dog owners and non-dog owners.
I'm sure being a rational person that you'd agree: it would be a shame to go from 3,5000 bites annually back to 40,000. Unless you're like Dear Orrin who advocates shipping dogs out of NYC.
Thanks for writing!
Winston- in response to your CREDO POST...
There are irresponsible people everywhere. I've seen parents let kids walk through flowers I had planted around street trees in front of my building. And two weeks ago we all saw the incredible mess partiers left in Prospect Park. It is disgusting, but it happens.
But most dog owners are responsible. Lumping them all together in a stew of bile does not convince anyone to be responsible and certainly does not change minds.
Engaging people in a friendly manner is usually the most constructive. When I see someone not picking up after their dog, I offer a bag and joke that I know what it is like to have forgotten or run out of them. It sure beats starting a fight. Know what? Most take it and use it- I then comment how we all like clean neighborhoods so "we" have to work together to keep it that way.
Just remember, more damage is done by graffiti "artists", litterbugs, those who post illegal signs, etc. These are human acts.
Let's work together for the good. But Orrin's approach is antagonistic, filled with distortions, and outright lies.
I HAD TO POST THIS HERE SINCE CREDO WOULD NEVER ALLOW IT THERE.
So much to respond to.
So much name calling, exaggerating, miss quoting, generalizations and just plain nastiness. That is why i was watching the party from a distance. However I can't get far enough from off leash
You say...
"For those who are afraid of off-leash dogs; they can avoid the 3 designated areas before 9am or after 9pm, and allow the hundreds of people who enjoy these activities to recreate peacefully."
But so many dog owners do not respect the off-leash time and place. I have seen dog owners release their dog an let it run across the road (during traffic hours, don't get me started on that.) to join other dogs in off leash. This almost caused an accident.
There are also countless other times I have encountered dogs of leash in the park in the wrong time or place. Pit bulls being encouraged to fight, or allowed to chase wildlife. But I am not going to start listing them here (Orrin does an over the top job of doing that) I would assume that these dog owners are not part of an organized community like FIDO.
You dog owning bloggers must recognize that you do not represent all dog owners. Many dog owners are not part of any organized community and do not care about the rules that your community as fought for.
As for "But most dog owners are responsible." We probably differ in the definition of responsible. Many times dog owners allowed their dog to put its paws on me and they said "He's friendly". Who are they to assume that I wanted their dogs paws on me.
A responsible dog owner assumes it is OK for their dog to urinate on any vertical service around: A tree (a living thing), a fire hydrant(an insult to fire fighters) or even a pile of trash (A sanitation workers is gonna have to pick that up).
A responsible dog owner will pick up their dog's poop with a plastic bag. So an hour later my child is gonna play on that same grass.
For documentation of the irresponsible dog owners of Park Slope see my blog:
http://poopslope.blogspot.com/
I am not handing out bags.
Winston
It is clear you prefer the glass half empty approach rather than hall full. And when you couch all in the negative, there is no chance for compromise or understanding.
Do me a favor then. Keep your kids absolutely quiet in restaurants. If they are in carriages, do not block sidewalks. Do not bring carriages into apt. bldg. hallways. ETC...
Me? I'd rather think of kids as enjoying life, dogs as having loving homes, and if putting a bag in my pocket helps someone, I will do that too.
There is lots of compromise in me but. You dog is your property. It does not bring any joy to my life. I don't think expecting people to keep its negative effects out of my life is asking too much.
Children however have rights as human being. They do not have to be absolutely quiet in restaurants. If a stroller is blocking the sidewalk you can walk around it without being jumped on by its occupant.
But don't worry, when my children were in a stroller I did my best not to block the sidewalk and we did not take them to any restaurants were they would annoy others.
My Dear Winston, or should I say Mr. Chickenunderwear (as you call yourself). Thank you for your response!
I'm glad to see that Orrin has at least one or two "friends" that form an amen choir for the so-called "Committee for Responsible Dog Ownership". Do you actually own a dog like Kim E? or like Orrin, Jett and Wilkinson just like to talk about dog owners?
I hope you appreciate my directness: But judging by your blog focus you have an obsession with dog turd, and I'm supposing you're seeking to lessen the amount of dog poo in NYC public places.
A noble cause and you would ordinarily have the backing of every responsible NYC dog owner. It's your desire to eliminate the successful 20+ year Off-leash Hours policy that makes you so unpopular with the vast majority of New Yorkers.
There are over 1 million dogs that live in NYC. If responsible dog owners did not obey the law and left dog turd on the street, we'd be seeing tons of crap every day in all public places.
The fact that with so many dogs each pooing an average of 2x a day, there's relatively little dog turd left on the street is an enormous testiment to (a) the pooper scooper law (I've lived in Bklyn since 1966 and remember pre-scooper days), and (b) the overwhelming majority of dog owners that comply witht he law.
That's why Orrin's (and your?)approach to throw out the baby with the bathwater approach, which you've apparently signed onto, is so puzzing.
To extend Orrin's baby with the bathwater logic (and perhaps yours), because a small percentage of the driving population speeds on the highway, we should abolish highways; because some soccer/football players destroy part of the grass, pick up sports should be abolished from the park. Because we have an obesity epidemic, Dunkin Donuts should be shut down.
The baby with the bathwater approach is a unwise direction to advocate when society is talking about enforcing a very small exception when the entire population (in this case dogs and their owners) is taken as a whole.
I'd also like to ask you about other natural and man-made hazard in the park. What about all those off-leash squirrels, birds, raccoons, and rats that poo and pee all over the grass. Especially the rat pee which has sickened several dogs over the past few years with Leptospirosis (the human variety is called Swamp Fever, though there haven't been any human cases to my knowledge reported in Prospect). As far as I know, dogs are the only animal represented (including horses) that have individual humans cleaning up behind them with little plastic baggies, which are they hygenically tossed into waste recepticals.
You see, Mr. Chickenunderwar, though we all live in a City, we are all somewhat "inconvenienced" by nature. Those darn pigeons, rats, squirrels, and hawks are pissing and pooing all over the lawns. Yuk. I don't hear you complaining about all that other animal waste marring your park lawn experience. Perhaps all that other excrement doesn't bother you?
As long as the baby with the bathwater approach is advocated, it will fail. It failed in court, at DOH and DOPR.
Instead of trying to get dogs out of parks, you should be advocating for stronger enforcement of existing rules and laws.
Banning the successful 20+ year Offf-leash Hour policy will run counter to your desire for less dog poo on the ground. Since it is the responsible dog owners who exert peer pressure on everyone before 9am to obey the rules, including picking up poop.
The poop arguement has been tried ad nauseum and has failed repeatedly. A defination of insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Again, welcome to the party. Orrin needs the help.
Toodles.
Wow, I am gonna get out of here because this is getting personal, not a discussion.
I never claim to be a fan of dogs. Not my baby,nor my bathwater.
But I am pointing out that many do owners do not respect the off leash times and rules, nor do they clean up. There is much to much poop in the Park and on the streets of Park Slope.
I like you would like to see enforcement of laws.
My Dear Chickenunderwear, or should I just call you Chicken?
Sorry the heat is too high in this kitchen. The truth is intense sometimes.
Sorry also that you take things personally. But if someone were to try to ban something you cherish, perhaps your running paths in the park or something of similar value, it's not a dispassionate cerebrial debate. In addition to the merits, or the lack thereof in this case of the oppositions argument, you look at the content of the opposition's character and how they behave and carry themselves. It's relevant to the discussion. And it's relevant to point out traits that are less than admirable and in some cases despicable.
Dear Orrin has shown himself to the public, and many of his fellow birder peers to be a far out radical with little intention to compromise and work for the general public good. He wants to use the park as HE sees fit and according to his convenience.
Best wishes. See you in the park.
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