San Diego's new dog poop rules are already closing fields
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Threat level system at Birney Elementary. Photo: Claire Trageser/Axios
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.
Threat level: Closures have accrued.
- Within a week of school opening, Franklin Elementary's field closed for 15 days. Now it's back in yellow, but already "one additional incident" was reported on Sept. 9, Cartwright said.
- Pacific Beach Middle School also reached red status after "three reported incidents" in August. The field reopened Sept. 15.
- Locked gates generally prevent scofflaw dog owners from accessing closed-off fields.
Meanwhile, Birney Elementary has had no reported incidents and remains mercifully green, Cartwright said.
Catch up quick: People and their pups can use some school fields in the afternoons and evenings but are supposed to keep dogs on leash and clean up after them.
- The city's contract with the Humane Society used to include officers patrolling fields and writing tickets to ensure such cleanups and leash use, but budget cuts ended that last year.
- Hence the pilot program at the three schools, which were picked because of their high levels of dog poop, according to the city.
The bottom line: It's too early to know whether this new plan is changing behavior, Cartwright said.
- TBD on whether or when it'll expand to other schools.