At the Community Board 5 meeting on Wednesday, December 13th, the Public Safety Committee requested a vote to be taken regarding the recent DOH leash law revision. CB5 voted overwhelmingly against the DOH action, re-affirming their stance against off-leash recreation in parks throughout the district. Ironically, Kathy Masi, a person listed as being a founding member of the Juniper Valley Park Dog Association, voted in opposition to the recent DOH decision.

It will be interesting to see if Adrian Benepe, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, actually listens to the vote of the community board on the matter this time. Last week, he was quoted in local papers as saying that he will consult with civic groups and community boards in determining which parks will have off-leash hours. If he had done that a year ago, the JPCA would never have brought a lawsuit against him. Now he finds himself in the position that he told us that he never wanted to be in – forced to make the off-leash privilege official, a situation he has said he knows will get “out of control.”