I’m writing because of what I have witnessed over a 24-hour period. I have been witness to more dog feces on the boardwalk and beaches than I care to.
With that being said, I think we need to examine a ban of dogs on the boardwalk. I am not against dogs; I’m just against the lazy owners that can’t clean up after them.
I ride my bike on the boardwalk on a daily basis and I see more dog remains all over the place. If we are reviewing a ban of alcohol at the beach for the reason of cleanliness, I truly believe we should take a real look at restricting dogs. We have dog beaches for them and they can run and crap all day long, and if the owners don’t want to clean up after their dogs, fine, because the only people that will be stepping in the remains will be fellow dog owners, not innocent bikers out for exercise.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had the displeasure of cleaning dog remains from the treads of your bike tires, so let me tell you firsthand that I would rather do something else, like, say, stub my toe extremely hard, rather than do this.
I believe that the number of people drinking causes the same percentage of problems as those who don’t clean up after their dogs. Over a 24-hour period, I witnessed two dog owners not clean up after their pets. This is littering and should be treated as such, and the fine should correspond to that of littering.
Those same percentages also don’t know what the leash law is and the hours they’re permitted to walk.
If we are restricting the drinking of alcohol at the beach to keep our beaches clean, we need to examine the restriction of dogs for that same reason.
Let the dogs have Dog Beach and let humans have the rest of the beach and boardwalk. At least beer cans are recyclable and picked up because they hold a cash value for someone.