dogist

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago, IL area town of Glen Ellyn Park District has approved fees of US$35 for residents and US$175 for non-residents to use a 5 acre dog run located in the town. The fees for the Spring Avenue park were initiated after a Rottweiler allegedly bit a resident (unclear if the Rottweiler was a foreign Roti or native to Glen Ellyn).

Park board vice president Sandra Minogue defended the fees with the standard canard: The dog park itself does cost the Park District money to keep up.. I wonder how much they charge for children to use the parks?

Dog owners, both resident and non-resident, are threatening to boycott the park and local businesses if the fees go into effect as planned.

Our local dog run in Brooklyn is free to all. In practice this has resulted in suburban bozoes bringing their un-socialized dogs to the park to disrupt the park for local residents and local dogs. Perhaps New York City should impose fees on non-residents. Oh, wait, since the commuter tax was repealed in an election-year gambit, I doubt we'd be allowed to impose a fee on non-resident dogs. Suburnanite's rights and all that.

Source: The Chicago Tribune: Dog park fee unleashes ire (August 10, 2006)