july 7th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, and idea who’s time has come for Ridgewood ? A lot of resident dog walkers think so .Anne LaGrange Loving said on Facebook the , “Twice I asked the former mayor whether the council might consider changing the ordinance that prohibits dogs from being in our parks. In conjunction with that, I suggested that “poopie bags” could be provided at each park.
Loving goes on to say ,”It is my observation that the garbage in our parks comes from careless humans – soda cans, water bottles, etc. Most dog owners I know are very careful about picking up after their pets. Of course there are some exceptions, just as there are some people who litter. The fact is that dogs are brought to parks all the time in Ridgewood in spite of the law – as they should be! So why not rescind this ordinance and at the same time provide these bags. I had even suggested a trial run on this – see how it goes. If the parks become filled with dog waste, well then the experiment is considered a failure and we can go back to prohibiting dogs. But it is worth a try.”
Saurabh Dani suggests that there could be certain instances when dogs would have to be prohibited, such as during the fireworks. But overall Loving asks ,”why can’t Paul Smith or Susanne Ziskis or Anne LaGrange Loving sit in the park with their dogs and enjoy a cup of coffee or a chat with a friend? It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the former mayor that my suggestion, which I posed twice at public meetings, was met with dead silence. His style was to never answer questions from members of the public. Thankfully we now have a new mayor and new council members and we are all so happy that open dialog on matters small (like this one) and great (like HDH, Valley, parking, etc) will be the norm between elected officials and the public.”
