Dog owners from neighboring areas may be surprised to learn that South Portland’s city councilors are considering amending an ordinance requiring all dogs not licensed in South Portland to be leashed at all times, even in areas like Hinckley Park, Bug Light and Willard Beach, which currently allow off-leash dogs under voice control.

I have attended two online City Council meetings, and from what I can tell there are three separate problems prompting this change. One is overcrowding at Willard Beach. One is erosion at Hinckley. And the last (but most important, in my opinion) is dog (and thus owner) misbehavior at both locations.

Because of the problems at Hinckley, the South Portland City Council this summer passed a temporary ordinance requiring all dogs be leashed at that park until Sep. 30. Many people stopped taking their dogs there, and this likely increased the number of dogs during the limited summer off-leash hours at Willard. The pandemic-related increase of dog ownership also probably has something to do with the increased number of dogs at Willard.

South Portland’s director of parks, Karl Coughlin, has come up with a plan to add protected plantings to reduce the problem of erosion at Hinckley, and he and the head ranger, Kristina Ertzner, say they believe their plan, combined with adding to the ordinance that dogs must be under sight control in addition to voice control, should be enough to curb the problems there. City councilors also voted to mandate that people walking three or more dogs must leash them all. But some citizens do not believe this is enough and are pressing for more extreme measures.

I don’t believe the city of South Portland needs to create more rules to fix the problem of dog misbehavior. I think what the city needs is more enforcement of the rules and laws that are already in place.

A much more effective way to counter the problem of dog misbehavior is the same way we do with people’s: policing, with consequences for the keepers of the rogue dogs. People need to know they can photograph/film offending dogs and their keepers and provide the documentation to rangers/animal control/police, just as they would expect the help of law enforcement if a person were trespassing or walking around the beach randomly attacking people. In addition, there needs to be signage in both parks explaining who to contact if there is misbehavior in the park.

All dog owners, whether they take their dogs to parks in Portland, Cape Elizabeth, South Portland or other neighboring areas, need to be mindful that if their dog isn’t truly under voice control then they should not be letting it off-leash. We need to respect that not all people want our dogs near them. We need to pick up after them and carry the bag until we can throw it in the trash. It’s the neighborly thing to do.

We can’t make the world perfectly safe all the time, and this proposal, although it may give the appearance of action, is not an effective, targeted action. And as Parks Director Coughlin and Ranger Kristina Ertzner made clear, it’s not enforceable. If it’s meant to deter people, then the people it is most likely to deter are the law-abiding ones who are more likely to have trained their dogs.

This proposal is not neighborly, and sets a bad precedent. What would Maine be like if suddenly all districts enacted similar ordinances?

The final meeting about this issue will be Tuesday, Sep. 7 at 6:30 p.m.. The meeting is conveniently online and those that can’t make it can email their thoughts to the members of the City Council.

Please let your voice be heard.

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