Citing sanitary concerns, the Metrotech BID has barred dogs from frolicking on the Metrotech Commons, depriving Downtown Brooklyn pooches access to one of their favorite pieces of real estate, reports The Brooklyn Paper.
“[We are] certainly willing to have people sit there on a blanket — that’s not prohibited — but it conflicts with the dog thing because if the dog is doing his number on the lawn, it could be unsanitary,” Michael Weiss, executive director of the BID, told The Paper. “You can just clean up so much, and you can’t clean up wet stuff.”
According to the reporter:
As new residents move in to the predominantly commercial area, so too are residents’ dogs, and, in an area unaccustomed to the needs of a 24-7 population, there are very few places where residents can walk — and relieve — their Fidos and Fifis.
The most convenient open space for many of the buildings — including the BellTel Lofts at Bridge and Willoughby streets — is the Metrotech Commons, a private grounds located between Jay Street and Flatbush Avenue Extension. But the management company that oversees maintenance that space recently prohibited dogs from the greenspace, which is now roped off and a bright yellow signs reads, “No dogs on the grass, please.”
Earlier this year, the Parks Department proposed putting a dog run in nearby McLaughlin Park, an idea the Community Board quashed in response to an uproar from Concord Village residents.
Now, dogs have to resort to doing their business on the sidewalk.
“Now we’re having a problem because a lot of the dogs are doing their business in front of the [BellTel] building, and the smell is starting to be pretty strong,” Francesca Sorrenti, a BellTel board member, told the reporter.
