posted June 26, 2008

Dog owners be aware, Giambrone's office has unleashed By Law officers

Isaac Meyer wrote:

Hello Neighbours,

I know that many of you are dog owners so I just wanted to pass on a heads up that the city's by law enforcement is targeting Ward 18 for any off leash dogs. I just received a $260 fine for having my dog off leash in McCormick field in the pouring rain at 8:30am when there was absolutely no one else was there.

The By Law officer did provide me with some background. It seems that Councillor Giambrone's office has insisted that the city should be patrolling and enforcing a no-tolerance ticketing of the parks in this area. Apparently, Ward 18 is the only ward in the city that does not have a designated off leash area which makes us easy pickings for collecting lucrative $260 fines.

I am aware that McCormick is not a designated off leash area and in the eyes of a No Tolerance policy I am on the wrong side of the law, however I do question the spirit of such a policy. It seems almost cruel to target a single dog owner who is making use of empty patch of public space when no one else could be harmed or disturbed by it and to be saddled with $260 fine.

Anyway, this is not necessarily a forum to address this issue. My main intent in the message is to let other dog owners know about the targeting that is going on and to watch out for the big white city by- law pickup truck.

Be careful out there,