BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Brooklyn dog owners are calling on
Mayor Bill de Blasio to reopen dog runs
as COVID-19-related restrictions loosen
during Phase Two of reopening, saying
that if offi cials can unlock playgrounds
for kids, they should do the same for the
city’s pups.
“Dog runs are open areas, they have
plenty of space for people to social distance.
To go ahead and open up playgrounds
where kids are going to be
interacting with kids from different
households — it doesn’t make sense,”
said Amy Willard, who heads up the
Maria Hernandez Dog Run Pack, a
volunteer group which maintains the
Bushwick park’s dog run. “I can go to
my dog run and stay six feet away from
other dog owners, and my dog can get
exercise that he needs.”
The borough’s pet parents have not
been able to let their puppers play with
their fellow four-legged friends in dog
runs since the beginning of April, when
Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver
closed them down due to overcrowding
at the height of the pandemic, Curbed
reported.
When asked about reopening them
at his June 22 daily press briefi ng, the
mayor said that his offi ce and Parks
COURIER L 10 IFE, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020
gurus are still evaluating dog runs together
with other facilities like basketball
courts, soccer fi elds, tennis courts,
and handball courts.
“There’s additional considerations
for that,” de Blasio said at his Monday
press conference. “We want to get it
right. We’re trying to fi gure out what’s
going to be necessary to make it right,
make it workable, and that’s what we’re
working on right now and we’ll have
more to say on that in the coming days.”
While Willard agreed that it made
sense to initially close them down, she
has been urging local electeds and offi
cials to unlock the gates again, saying
that there are few spaces to let the
hounds roam without disturbing others.
“We don’t have yards, parks that
have a dog runs don’t have off-leash
hours,” said Willard, who owns a Beagle
Collie mix rescue named Binkley.
Some city-owned lawns allow dogs
to be off-leash from the park’s opening
until 9 am and again after 9 pm until
closing, but dog owners say it isn’t
nearly enough
Meanwhile state-run greenspaces
never closed their dog runs during the
viral outbreak, according to a spokesperson
for the agency, which explains
Amy Williard (second from left) and other Bushwick dog owners are locked out of the Maria
Hernandez Park dog run. Photo by Kevin Duggan
why the dog run at East River State
Park in Williamsburg is open while
the one in nearby McGolrick Park in
Greenpoint, for example, isn’t — the
two are managed by different government
agencies.
What’s more, the city-owned Hillside
Dog Park in well-to-do Brooklyn
Heights has been open since last week,
according to a nearby resident and dog
owner who helps maintain that space,
who claimed that it was Parks offi cials
themselves who unlocked the gates
there.
“I was told by someone who was
there that the Parks Department
opened it saying they expect the park
to reopen next week anyway — we
lucked out,” said Tony Soll who regularly
visits the space with his 13-yearold
Border Collie Izzy.
Soll also questioned the reasoning
behind reopening playgrounds but not
dog runs, saying he felt more secure at
the latter.
“It seems illogical and crazy,” he
said. “The playgrounds are complicated
it seems to me, whereas at dog
runs, dogs play and people are standing
around. The owners tend to socialize
— but very carefully. I’m 73 so I’m sensitive
to those things.”
When asked about a more detailed
timeline for reopening the dog runs,
spokeswoman for the city’s Parks Department
Anessa Hodgson referred to
the mayor’s statements.
The spokeswoman did not provide
comment by press time why the Hillside
Dog Park was already open.
Let the dogs in!
Owners demand mayor reopen dog runs
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