WHEN DOGS LOSE, DRUG DEALERS WIN

When I had a dog, the best part of the day was the early morning when
I took her to our two neighbourhood parks.

There, as a puppy, she would play with other dogs. And she loved to
run, often leading 10 to 15 dogs up and down a big hill and around and
through the cluster of owners watching their every move.

Because it was so early, there was not a child in sight, especially on
rainy days or in winter. There were only a few cyclists, joggers and
some elderly Chinese men and women practising Tai Chi Chuan, the
slow-motion martial arts form.

And on most mornings, my dog-owning neighbours and I would pick up the
garbage left by hordes of family picnickers, the broken beer bottles
smashed on trees and park benches by drunks or gangs of idle youths,
and the empty pizza boxes, cigarettes and condoms left by drug dealers
and prostitutes.

We did it because the city crews often neglected our little
parks.

The only catch was that our parks had no leash-free area for our dogs
to run. So, in fact, all of us were breaking the law.

Today, the parks have few dogs - and lots more garbage, youth gangs,
pimps and drug dealers.

The reason for fewer dogs is that Toronto bylaw officers are cracking
down on dog owners who let their animals run off leash. In my parks,
squads of bylaw enforcement officers have been spotted lurking as
early as 6:30 in the morning for several days in a row, issuing fines
up to $260.

But harassing and driving generally law-abiding dog owners out of
parks during early mornings and late nights when children are at home
and abusive punks and druggies are around makes no sense.

That's because, as my upset neighbour Brian rightly argues, our city
and parks are safer and cleaner when there are more "feet on the
ground," as urban guru Jane Jacobs would say.

"Where are the city's priorities?" asks Brian, clearly frustrated by
what he and others see as a city bureaucracy more interested in fining
dog owners than ensuring the garbage is collected and drug dealers are
ousted from our park.

The dogs-versus-people fight has raged for years in Toronto. It took
city council years to develop and approve its current People, Dogs and
Parks Strategy. Enacted last fall, the policy set in place a
comprehensive process of public consultation before an off-leash area
could be set aside in a park.

Only 32 parks so far have been allowed off-leash areas. Dozens of
other parks, including those in my neighbourhood, are under review.
Bureaucrats are examining all 32 off-leash areas and have so far shut
off-leash areas in downtown parks.

Neither side likes the current system. Dog owners want more off-leash
areas or at least more off-leash hours. Others want more restrictions
on off-leash areas.

Into this mess has stepped city councillor Adam Vaughan, who wants to
change the off-leash regulations even though they are barely a year
old. He is pushing to ban off-leash areas in all parks with less than
two acres. That would affect nearly half the city's 1,470 parks.

Vaughan claims Toronto needs "a more sensitive approach to smaller
parks," saying that many people don't like using a park after dogs
have used it because of dog waste.

But it works both ways.

To understand that, Vaughan should come to our park after a weekend of
family picnics or all-night partying by drunks. And if he stuck around
long enough, he would see that more drug dealers and gangs are hanging
out there.

Tempers on both sides of this issue are rising, with websites and
blogs urging citizens to lobby city bureaucrats and
politicians.

Vaughan has needlessly unleashed this uproar because the policy was
already due for review in 2009. Instead, his proposal will go before
the city's parks and environment committee on Sept. 15.

Obviously, people should come before dogs, and the city is right to
fine those flagrantly breaking the law. Dogs must be kept under
control, especially around children.

But a more sensible approach than Vaughan's - and one that would
address concerns about what's happening in our parks - would be to
allow more, not fewer, small parks to have off-leash areas with
strictly enforced hours, say, before 8 a.m. or after 9:30 p.m.

My neighbour Brian talks of the time when dogs and their owners
gathered each morning, swapping news and keeping an eye out for
unsavoury activity.

He misses those days.

So do many of the 200,000 other dog owners in the city. It is time
they had them back.