The following letter was sent to SCRD and forwarded to Coast Reporter for publication.
I took my toddlers to Shirley Macey Park recently to play in the playground and to run with them on the soccer field.
I had a large debate with a group of dog owners who were allowing their dogs to run all over while they stood there chatting.
Not one of five people with the dogs walked around the field and picked up any feces.
I’m pretty certain that after a good hour in a park, any number of those dogs had shat on the field.
I didn’t want to chase my children into dog poop, so we stayed on the playground.
When I spoke with the owners, they were all certain it was an off-leash dog park and that they only have to keep the dogs on leash around the playground and off it completely.
I showed them the website where it stated this park is not an off-leash dog park (I believe that includes the soccer fields).
Why are there no signs and why does it seem to be a large bone of contention for these dog owners?
Gibsons has plenty of green space where you can take dogs off leash. Why are the citizens bickering over what is clearly a health and safely issue? Please address this as soon as possible, as I would like to have my son play soccer there but don’t want to argue with pet owners over it.
If this is an important issue for the community, are there any available funds to put an off-leash area close by?
Danielle Segal, Gibsons
