LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dog owner out

to lunch

And dog owners continue to wonder why they are being apparently “discriminated” against?

Samantha’s comments in the July 18 edition of The Chronicle (‘Humans create more filth than dogs: residents’) state that in her opinion, dogs are cleaner than humans and that her dog in particular is cleaner than most peoples’ children. Well, dogs being animals naturally cannot do anything about their need to defecate. So in essence, your statement is incorrect.

Your dog is not cleaner than peoples’ children, unless these “children” find the need to defecate on public and city property.

Your display of garbage being used as a comparison to the fecal matter that your dog leaves behind is also wholly inaccurate and completely out of context. I, and most normal persons, would rather step on an empty coffee cup than step on a pile of dog feces. I would also prefer that my two-year-old son picked up a candy wrapper than dog feces.

In the photo supporting the article, you even have a photo of yourself with the garbage in your hand. Perhaps you could resubmit the photo with the garbage in one hand and your dog’s feces in your other hand.

Maybe that would lead you to a different conclusion as to the reasoning behind the city’s bylaws restricting dogs from public parks?

Mike Noirca

Dorval



Dog owners do

their duty

As a resident of Pierrefonds, and a dog owner who religiously picks up after her dog, I must say that I am in complete agreement with the July 18 letter, ‘Too harsh on dogs.’

Whether walking alone or with other dog owners, I have found that, besides conscientious picking-up of feces, dog owners often pick up garbage, broken bottles, and other remnants left by non-dog-walkers in the parks. The neighbourly and responsible camaraderie that characterizes the social network of dog walkers is not what the community of Pierrefonds wants to ban from its parks, I'm sure.



Gladys Batten

Pierrefonds

Let teens use parks

Re: ‘Bylaw change takes aim at loitering teens,’ The Chronicle, July 18.

Kids hanging around in parks? What an atrocity! A group of teenagers seen out in public rather than at home? Outrageous! In a day and age where parents are at wits end to get their kids away from the TV and video games, off the computer and out into the sunlight and fresh air, the city decides to create a bylaw to force kids to stay home?

Derek Snider

Toronto

Save the

‘green lungs’

Even the best newspapers sometimes get it wrong! Your editorial (‘An idea whose time has come,’ The Chronicle, July18) advocating a road through Bois de Liesse Nature Park proves that point.

A road through the park would destroy its ecological and territorial integrity. Your proposition for a bus only route is breathless in its naivety. It simply doesn’t make sense to spend millions on a road and then prevent many who are paying for it from using it. Any move for a rezoning for the road would be followed by a demand for a rezoning on both sides of it to help with the costs. Light industry or high-rise condos would be proposed to help pay for the road. We would lose our nature park and in 10 years the traffic situation would be worse than ever. More roads mean more automobile use and more pollution, and less urgency to double the tracks on the Two Mountains railway line, use the Doney Spur or find an alternative to our dependency on cars and trucks. In addition, building a parallel route to the Trans Canada Highway might temporarily ease traffic woes in Dollard des Ormeaux, but worsen them in St. Laurent.

Parks are more than potential right of ways for highways. They are the green lungs which make living on the West Island so attractive. To destroy Bois de Liesse for yet another highway is an idea whose time should never come

George Boutilier

Pierrefonds