Portland's off-leash area (for dogs) controversy continues.

[HuckleB]

Off-leash parks vex Mt. Tabor residents

http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=27720

"While some dog owners must travel miles to their closest off-leash area, Joann Martorano can simply open her door and step outside.

She just has to watch where she steps.

“There are dog bombs on my driveway; there are people dropping them in my trash,” she says, referring to the dog waste that litters the Southeast Harrison Street boundary of the Mount Tabor Park off-leash area. “We have to leave our shoes outside the door.”

The mess isn’t the only thing Martorano doesn’t appreciate about living next to the city’s second-largest and most controversial off-leash area. She and a cluster of other neighbors within barking distance think the signs are unclear; they hate the noise; they fear that the trails are being eroded; and they can’t stand that some dogs aren’t on leash when they should be.

..."

[illflem]

1. Have they considered a fence?

No doubt if they asked the city would at least split the cost or maybe even pay all.

[secedeeconomically]

2. I don’t understand why they don’t fence in some of these parks

I live near a park on Gleason and 18th (I’m not exactly sure the exactly address). And it’s an off-leash park as well. However, I'm worried that my dog might accidentally run into the street.

[HuckleB]

3. Money is one reason. Another is that fences divide parks...

...that actually are used for many things (most off-leash areas are not off-leash areas during the day), and fences would keep some of those activities from happening. Further, the off-leash areas change with the season in many parks, in order to give the grass in one area a chance to recover from overuse (meaning over-urination, among other things).