Serving Brooklyn's Off-Leash Community

Juniper Park Civic Association Lawsuit

Update ... ________________________ Connie Marder April 9, 2007 Offleash Now Legal In Designated City Parks To take effect May 10th. It's over, people - your hard work paid off. See the details at. www.nycoffleash.com 02/22/07 Park's Department Hearing was today The hearing was held today with what looked to be about a hundred people - of which maybe fifteen supported the Juniper Park position. I saw a lot of Fido faces - many of whom spoke eloquently on behalf of off-leash. And just to let everyone know, over twenty thousand NEW letters and signatures were turned into the Park's people at the hearing. You have our heartfelt thanks for staying with us on this issue. Keep checking www.nycoffleash.com for detailed observations. Now we wait a month to see how the new regulations shake out and what it means for Prospect Park. Well Done, Everyone! Bob I From New York Council of Dog Owner Groups Here's a brief synopsis of today's events attempting to put it into the overall context of the past year: The New York Council of Dog Owner Groups (NYCdog.org) commends the NYC Parks Department for conducting a fair and orderly public hearing February 22, 2007 in Manhattan at the Parks Chelsea Recreation Center. The public hearing was part of the City Administrative Procedures Act (CAPA) process that allows the Parks Department to amend its own regulations with the proper public notice and opportunity for public comment. The hearing was to solicit public comment on regulation amendments that would formally codify the successful 20-year Off-leash Hours policy in New York City parks. Over 60 speakers presented their views of the Off-leash Hour policy and the Parks Department's proposed amendments NYCdog presented over 20,000 letters of support and petition signatures from New Yorkers who support the limited Off-leash Hours. An hour before the hearing, NYCdog held a press conference outside of the Chelsea Recreation Center covered by Eyewitness News (ABC), NY1, the Daily News, New York Post, and several local Queens newspapers. This has been a dramatic and apprehensive year for supporters of the parks Off-leash Hours policy. In May 2006, the now infamous Juniper Park Civic Association, the second largest civic association in Middle Village, Queens, sued the Parks Department and the City of New York contending that the Off-leash Hours policy violated the "Leash Law" provision of the Health Code. Fortunately, the NYS Supreme Court denied the JPCA's lawsuit on November 30, 2006, and ruled that the Off-leash Hours policy has always been and continues to be legal. Six days later, on December 5, 2006, the NYC Health Board voted unanimously to amend the "Leash Law" to explicitly authorize the Parks Commission to promulgate a limited Off-leash Hours policy in NYC parks. This action was to prevent further frivolous lawsuits against Off-leash Hours policy in the future. These two historic wins for Off-leash Hours advocates in November and December 2006 set the stage for today's Parks Department public hearing. Today was the beginning of the Third and final act of this year-long drama to save and strengthen the Off-leash Hours policy in New York City. Now that the hearing is over, the Parks Department will consider all written and spoken comments to their proposed regulation amendments. We expect the Parks Department to formally ratify the amendments within the next 30 days. Following that, the Parks Department will send the ratified amendments to the City's corporation counsel for approval. Once approved, the ratified amendments will be published in the City Register and 30 days following that the amendments that formally codify the Off-leash Hours policy will become official NYC Parks regulations. We expect the whole process to be completed sometime in April 2007. After nearly a year long fight in NYS Supreme Court, the NYC Board of Health, and now the Parks Department, off-leash advocates have proven that the Off-leash Hours policy is legal, good public health policy, and now the previously unwritten policy will be codified into Parks regulations, thereby assuring its continued existence and strengthening the policy to encourage responsible dog ownership. Please check NYCoffleash.com in the next day or so for complete coverage of the February 22nd, 2007 Parks Department hearing. NYCdog.org   01/10/07 We are not done yet - The final Parks hearing is on Feb. 22. We need your help! The anti-ofleash crowd is mustering their forces- their online petition has about 1500 signatures. We can't let them beat us in the home stretch! Sign the NYCDOG online petition at: http://petitionspot.com/petitions/amendparksregs Visit the NYCDOG web page for updated information: http://www.NYCoffleash.com/ NYCDOG (New York City Council of Dog Owner Groups) are the people who have tirelessly volunteered on our behalf through the court and City Health Department hearings to see responsible off-leash become law E-Mail the Parks Commissioner and tell him why offleash is important to *your* quality of life, as well as your dog's! Email Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of Parks and Rec: www.nycgovparks.org/contact_us/html/contact.html Better yet, a nice snail-mail: Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of Parks and Rec The Arsenal Central Park 830 5th Avenue New York, NY 10021 Download a Petition: Seven line I Suport Off-Leash Petition and mail it to the Parks Commissioner We need people to come speak at the hearing! The hearing will be held at 1pm on Feb 22nd at the Chelsea Recreation Center located at 430 West 25th Street. If we do not show up, the opposition will be the only ones there. And they are VERY angry people! Here's a chance to tell the Park's Commissioner how having access to a few hours of off-leash each day has made New York City a quality place to work and live. You do not need to register in advance - speakers will be allowed two minutes. We need to know we have people coming to speak so please inform Mary McInerney that you are willing to go to bat for us at fidobrooklyn@att.net We are so close, yet so far! Please, it only takes a few minutes. Thanks. Mary McInerney President FIDO in Prospect Park www.fidobrooklyn.org Voicemail: 888-604-3422. January 2007 We won but it's not quite over... What You Can Do... Keep visiting www.nycoffleash.com The site contains all the court documents, links for the online petition, history of NYC offleash, a blog, offleash stories, press dealing with the lawsuit, images of offleash recreation, information about NYCdog and more. It also contains all the breaking news and analysis about the lawsuit as well as the Board of Health Ruling in favor of Off-leash NYCdog is an umbrella organization comprising most of the dog parks and offleash areas in New York City. FIDO in Prospect Park is an active member of NYCdog and holds one board seat Soon we will ask you to write the New York City Park's Commissioner... Over the next 90 days the City Parks Department will be in the process of rewriting their own Code to allow off-leash. There will be another public hearing and we're sure we'll hear from the Juniper Hill Civic Association once again. But the good news is that this is the last step in the triple crown of legal Off-Leash as law. In January we will give you specific addresses where to write. You all did good! Petition to Parks Department Download and circulate this petition (pdf); get all your friends to sign it; then mail to NYCdog.org Petition_pro offleash.pdf Become a Fido Member On-Line ($15) Fido is the model from which New York City off-leash privledges came into being, first of all right here in Prospect Park. We represent a huge block of responsible off-leash adocates. We need your support! This reminds our elected officials that there's a voter at the end of every leash! TimeLine... 12/05/06 Board of Health unanimously votes to make Off-Leash legal in the City Parks; where the Park's Commissioner designates space. 11/30/06 Judge Kelly Rules in favor of off-leash! Note that the Board of Health is still expected to go ahead with it's vote on December 5th as to whether the health code should be amended to allow the Parks Commissioner to allow off-leash. If it passes, the Parks Department must then meet to amend it's own rules to make it law to allow the Parks Commissioner to allow off-leash in designated areas. Since it was the Parks Department who was sued in the first place, we assume this decision will be positive for the continuation of off-leash. Fido wishes to thank not only the many off-leash supporters who responded with letter and petitions but also Bob Marino and the New York City Council of Dog Owner Groups for their tireless volunteer work and organization skills. For more information, read the pdf of the judge's decision as put up by Matt Parker of NYCDOG: http://nycoffleash.com/html/files/Decision.pdf ===================== November 30, 2006 Today, in a surprise announcement to everyone concerned, Judge Kelly issued an opinion in Juniper Park Civic Association, Inc. v City of New York denying the petition in its entirety and affirming the authority of the Park's Department to allow off leash time for dogs in City Parks. It is a total victory for City Parks and NYCDOG. In his opinion he also wrote: "The court is keenly aware that while it can dispose of the legal issue presented, the broad emotional effect of the issues raised will remain. In the face of the angst and vitriol exhibited herein, common sense would dictate that something more than an 'unwritten policy' governing the off-leash use of parkland by dogs, which is known by few and misunderstood by many, is required in this instance. With this in mind, the statement by respondent's counsel during oral argument, as amplified in writing, that respondents will formalize the details of the current off-leash policy within the Park Rules, is, hopefully, more than mere puffery." NYCdog statement from Andrew Otis, Esquire: Today the court disposed of the legal issues in this matter and left the question of when and where dogs may be off leash in City Parks where it belongs: in the hands of the Park Commissioner. NYCDOG applauds this ruling and looks forward to working with the rest of the City's Park users, including the Juniper Park Civic Association, to develop workable rules that allow both for the benefits of off-leash time for dogs and their human companions and other park uses. Robert A. Marino (Bob) president NYCdog.org direct reply: Ramnyc2000@yahoo.com 11/03/06 In A Nutshell Board of Health Hearing... The public hearing was held Wed, November 1st. There were a number of informative arguments on behalf of off-leash presented to the NYC Health Board which included Commissioner Tom Frieden. Representatives from the following organizations strongly supported the Health Department’s proposed amendments: the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Issues Pertaining to Animals, Friends of Animal Care and Control and the Veterinary Medical Association of New York City. Moreover, former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern spoke at the hearing. Alluding to the 9 PM to closing, and opening to 9 AM Off-leash policy that he initiated, Stern stated that the “allocation of space and time within the parks” for both dog-owners and non dog-owners represents “common sense”. The opposition was represented a small angry minority who used the same old tired arguments to make their case. The Board will vote on the amendment to make off-leash the law not a privilege on December 5th. For a detailed minute by minute report of the hearing: www. NYCoffleash.com site has been updated to provide info and pics of the Nov 1 press conference and health hearing. See what more you can do to help Off-Leash become the law. 9/26/06 Board of Health Meeting to take up the rewriting of the health code to allow off-leash The Board of Health threw dog owners a bone yesterday, moving one step closer to a code amendment that would legalize off-leash hours for canines in city parks. The board agreed to hear public comment on the proposed amendment for 90 days, and hold an open forum on Nov. 1, before taking a formal vote on whether to change the code. The parks department has allowed off-leash hours from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. for about 20 years – but the current wording of the health code states that dogs must be leashed at all times. The discrepancy prompted a Queens community group to file a suit against the city in May – demanding strict adherence to code. A Queens judge has heard both sides and a ruling is pending – but if the code changes, his decision will be "completely moot," said City Attorney Paula Van Meter. Dog advocates, however, aren't wagging their tails for victory just yet. "It's not a done deal and we don't want to get cocky," said Bob Marino, head of the group NYCdog. "This is really fourth down for us, but the game is not over." But Former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, who initiated the off-leash hours in the 1980s, believes an amendment is certain. "A major first step was taken toward change today," he said. "This is letting the law catch up with the facts. And interestingly, it wouldn't have happened if not for the law suit." Members of the Juniper Park Civic Association, which filed the suit, said they wouldn't be muzzled by the latest developments. JPCA head Bob Holden called the proposed amendments "insanity" and equated the city's move toward change to an admission of wrongdoing. "Why else would they be trying to change it," he said. "It proves we were right in court." He predicted no good would come from a boost in the number of freewheeling pups in parks. "If this is passed it will be repealed in a couple of years. You'll see someone get killed or mauled during these off-leash hours," he said. Robert A. Marino (Bob) presidentNYCdog.org 8/29/06 Juniper Park Lawsuit Argued Before the Judge today Click on the above link to read or download a detaield account of the August 29th Hearing. The short version is that Judge will render his decision based on a strict interpretation of the law: that the City Health Code specifies that dogs must be on a six foot leash. Under consideration is whether Juniper Park Civic Association has the public standing/ right to initiate such a major lawsuit against the Parks Department. Also under consideration is whether the City Parks Commissioner is empowered to make concessions that violate the City Health Code. The Judge will not consider whether Off-Leash hours benefit the public good. The good news out of this hearing is that the City announced that it WILL seek to change the City Health code regarding dogs in the next 90 days; make exceptions where it benefits the public good. 6/28/06 COURT HEARING: The Judge adjourned the hearing until August 29. He met in chambers with both attorneys and strongly recommended that they compromise . How a compromise could be reached is unknown but Juniper Dogs will meet with Parks to see if they can formulate a proposal to present to the Civic Association. 6/04/06 The initial suit was rejected by the judge with the stipulation that they would be able to refile the suit if they could better show that the city is negligent in allowing off-leash privileges. Unbelieveably, they have requested a new date to pursue the suit 6/01/06 Received a letter from the Parks Department General Council, and spoke with him on the phone. He says the city plans to "vigorously defend" against the lawsuit (standard term, I know, but good to hear!) as the Parks Dept. thinks that off leash is a good thing! He also told me the attorney assigned to the case is a dog owner. I told him if there was anything we could do to help- more info, provide people to testify, whatever- to please call. I sent him my contact info and Bob Marino, as president of NYCDOG. He said he may want someone to speak at the hearing on the 27th. Mary McIneney president Fido in Prospect Park 5/31/06 The Juniper Civic obtained an Order to Show Cause against NYC Parks Department for allowing dogs to run off their leashes from 9pm to 9am "in violation of the city Health Code." A hearing has been set for June 27th in Queens Supreme Court. Continue to collect petitions and to call 311. The NYCdog meeting for June will be scheduled in a few days for mid June at which time we will ask you to bring in petitions so that we can get news coverage around the same time as hearing. Bob Marino NYCDog 5/12/06 Referencing elaw, a computer link to the Courts regarding The Juniper Park Civic Association case, it would appear that the Juniper Park Ass'n attempted to start a proceeding in April 2006, but the attempt was rejected by the Judge(Judge Peter Kelly) without prejudice to permitting the Juniper Park Civic Association to attempt to start it again, but with a requirement that the Association file a memorandum of law setting forth the reasons they believe the relief they are seeking in the proceeding is permitted in that type of proceeding. Article 78 proceedings (the type attempted by Juniper Park) are generally used to compel a governmental body to do what it is required to do or refrain from what it is not supposed to do or from acting in an arbitrary and capricious manner. So far, this looks good. I am checking in the Court to see if a copy of the papers which were rejected by the Judge are still there and if so, will advise later. In the meantime, this note implies that at this time, nothing is pending Who is the Juniper Hill Civic Association? www.junipercivic.com/home.html