The new plan to let dog owners police themselves at school fields is still a bit….ruff.
The big picture: The plan’s honor system (put in place after the city cut Humane Society enforcement) is meant to allow pooches to run free while kids enjoy clean fields during the school day.
- But already, owners aren’t picking up their dog poop, and it’s leading to field closures.
Under the new scheme (rolled out as a pilot program at Pacific Beach Middle, Birney Elementary and Franklin Elementary) signs carrying a Homeland Security-like threat system of green, yellow and red tiers indicate whether dog owners are sufficiently policing themselves.
Here’s the system: A school field jumps up to yellow if “a single incident of dog waste” is discovered by school officials, city spokesperson Benny Cartwright told Axios.
- If a second “incident” is found in the grass within 30 days, it goes to red and the field closes to the public (not students) for 15 days.
- Once the field reopens, it returns to yellow for another 30 days.
- If two “additional incidents” occur during that period, the field will close for 30 days.
The city didn’t provide information about what constitutes dog waste, what size or consistency will trigger a closure, and how anyone will decide whether something is waste or a clump of dirt…