Should Dogs Be Allowed On The Brand New Cadman Park Turf?

My children are well past the age where this affects me personally, but every day I see everything from babies to 10 year olds crawling, rolling and lying down on that Astroturf.

I think dogs should 100% stay off. I would think dog owners could go use the Korean War Memorial Plaza one block to the south. It is generally completely deserted, especially before 9 AM when they tend to be congregating leash free on the Astroturf.

I’m with you, … but read the Eagle article. It boils down to the reality that what you and I may consider simple hygiene in connection with toileting strikes many (most ?) dog owners as infringing on

1) THEIR non-human family member; and
2) their relationships with other dog owners;
3) their dogs’ socializing;
4) their habits & convenience…. [Not only are some of the alternatives adding closet to 1/2 hour to hectic mornings, … but one simply cannot “socialize” in the “woods” surrounding the turf the way one can ON IT.]

ALL without *real* hygienic implications, since the first thing the dogs do in the mornings (where this is more of a problem than you think it is) is “eliminate.”

Is there any adult who doesn’t understand the power – in total, it dwarfs anything “atomic” – of HABIT [there are probably dog owners whose consecutive # of days using Cadman’s turf to exercise their dogs plus all of the above is 100+ in good weather] and what the individuals involved would call “individual freedom.”

Lest anyone be misled – I wish the Parks Dept. or the Conservancy could – without violence – make a ban work [habits CAN be broken or changed], but beware solutions like “build a wall.”

Even worse, in some ways, is “Can’t you see how ridiculous your position is!” … Like that EVER works out well???

So, there were multiple dogs off leash and in the park peeing on the turf. when will this be monitored like BBP pier 5.

Obviously the dedicated dog parks appeal to a lot of people, but many dog owners, vets, etc, are not fans, as they tend to be disease vectors, and as a friend once noted, “…there’s always one a****** who hasn’t trained their dog and they bite yours or worse.” There was actually an article about all the reasons dog runs aren’t actually good for dogs in the NYT a couple of weeks ago, and I believe a small dog just had their throat ripped up in the Furman Street dog run a couple of weeks ago. Whitman and the grass around the artificial turf are great, though. You just have to watch out for the soccer balls that come flying off the turf–we’ve almost been hit in the head many times. I’d like to see the soccer players relocate to Pier 5.

We can’t walk on the grass or on the paved path around the turf because the soccer players inadvertently send balls at adults, children and dogs? Do they get the entire park now? Why can’t they go to Pier 5, which is built for sports and fenced in? Also, I’m pretty sure the BHB has a zero tolerance policy for name-calling.