davis_square | Unleashed Dogs in Lexington Park (Reply)

I'm posting an open letter (with photos) that I sent to Somerville Aldermen, Mayor and Police Department in regard to unleashed dogs on the Somerville Path, and most recently, inside of Lexington Park. Those living on or near the path know that almost every afternoon there is a horde of unleashed pets there, despite that a designated off-leash park is only a mile away.

If you think that think that this problem is getting out of hand or have been injured, attacked (like I was) or scared of these dogs, or are just concerned about the safety of our community, I urge you to to support this initiative to get this problem resolved, by writing your Alderman, Mayor or Police Dept.

Ward 5 Alderman, Sean O’Donovan sean@odonovanlaw.com

Ward 6 Alderman, Rebekah Gewirtz info@rebekahgewirtz.org

Mayor of Somerville, Joseph Curtatone mayor@somervillema.gov

Somerville Police Department aide@police.somerville.ma.us

Dear Aldermen, Mayor and Police Dept.

Over the past year I’ve been trying to raise awareness about a particular public safety hazard on the Community Path, especially between Willow and Cedar Streets. It should be no surprise that there is a real problem with the amount of unleashed dogs in the area, especially during rush hours.

Although I’m grateful to Aldermen and members of the Police Department who have made or encouraged occasional visits to the area to intervene, the fact is that the problem of unleashed dogs is chronic; chronic to a point that everyday, especially during late afternoon, there are about a dozen unleashed dogs that are running amok on the path. Although this situation has not been contained, this is not the reason for this letter.

The real reason is the audacity of irresponsible dog owners, who in the lack of more frequent enforcement of the law, are not only letting their dogs loose on the path, risking the safety of pedestrians and bikers, but also are starting to bring their unleashed pets into the playground area known as Lexington Park.

As a daily user of the path I’ve noticed more and more dogs being let loose in the playground area – while children are present. I’ve taken several poor photos with my mobile phone (I apologize for the quality) of one instance. In this particular instance the photos was taken just before the dog ran into the basketball court where 2 boys were playing while the dog started chasing the ball. The kids were frightened and climbed the fence to get away (the owner was present on the playground). Although the dog probably wanted to play rather than harm, it is still inexcusable behavior and should be prevented.

Since the leash laws on the path are rarely enforced, it is to no one’s surprise that such things happen and will continue to happen. Therefore I urge you for help with this issue, if not for the sake of daily commuters, than for the sake of the kids.

I am in no position to ask anything specific of our government or Police Department as I do not know the inner workings of same. However some suggested action would be:

-more frequent monitoring of the area by Police Dept (especially since an officer can take a look at the situation from their cruiser from either Cedar St, Willow St, or Morrison St parking lot, without getting out of the car)

-issuing of the tickets to when violators are spotted

-strengthening the leash law by increasing fines, or making leash law fines appear on offender’s record.

Thank you for your cooperation and here are links to the photos.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/8313/dog1c.jpg

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/1539/dog2g.jpg (best)

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5076/dog3k.jpg

Sincerely

Hugo Smoter

5 Richardson St., Somerville