Are some dog owners more equal than others in Big Blue NYC?
Pet-friendly New York's Eve of Destruction
On May 1, New York's NYCHA intends to enforce its new "pet policy" for the almost 178,000 apartments scattered throughout New York's five boroughs in its control. NYCHA provides homes to more than 400,000 New Yorkers.
Never much of a pet-friendly landlord, in 2002 NYCHA agreed to allow tenants one dog or cat, providing the pet was neutered and weighed 40 lbs. or less.
But that was then. This is now.
Seems that policy was just too liberal. Dig it.
With explanations like "too many incidents of people’s dogs doing what they aren’t supposed to", NYCHA announced new rules, including breed specific prohibitions in a state that forbids breed specific laws. NYCHA's policy is in direct contradiction to an exisiting state law.
As of May 1, 2009, the following dogs are prohibited (maybe):
Akita Inu, Alangu Mastiff, Alano Español, American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Argentine Dogo, Bedlington Terrier, Boston Terrier, Bull and Terrier, Bull Terrier, Bully Kutta, Cane Corso, Dogue de Bordeaux, Dogo Sardesco, English Mastiff, Fila Brasiliero, Gull Dong, Gull Terr, Irish Staffordshire Bull, Korean Jindo Dog, Lottatore Brindisino, Neapolitan Mastiff, Perro de Presa Canario (Canary Dog), Perro de Presa Mallorquín (Ca de Bou), Shar Pei, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Tosa Inu.
Also: any dog predicted to weigh more than 25 lbs. when full grown
And even more: Even though this is all supposed to commence tomorrow, the list of breeds seems to change several times a day. The above list came from an NYCHA publication. Since then Boxers, Dobermans, German Shepherds, and Rottweilers have been included in assorted other news items. I think I saw Golden Retrievers on one.
SNAFU at NYCHA
Your guess is as good as mine as to which dogs are going to be illegal in six hours or so. I called NYCHA. Three times. NYCHA isn't talking.
They're too busy "tweaking" their list.
Who came up with that bizarre list of prohibited breeds? Was it their carefully compiled and well-documented records of dog-related incidents involving Gull Dongs ?
How many problem Alangu Mastiffs live in the New York City public housing projects, anyway?
Unexplained weight loss
Dogs in public housing were becoming a headache. So, rather than work towards the enforcement of New York's comprehensive animal control laws (don't they watch Animal Precinct??? how do they avoid it???) the agency decided that 40 lbs. was "too much."
They figured 25 lbs. was a better number.
And then . . .
. . .the agency looked into popular breeds used for dog fighting. The result was a list of about 30 types of dogs that will be prohibited from being registered in public housing after May 1. NYCHA’s pet policy overview consists of an odd mix of large and small dogs believed to be aggressive, and rare breeds.
Like a lot of other dog-bite related "science", the list seems to be stuck together with chewing gum and bullshit, and maybe a little 'net surfing.
Poor people and their dogs don't count ?
New Yorkers aren't crazy about BSL. Not at all. Big blue New York has resisted negative stereotyping of dogs and dog owners for years.
Maybe NYCHA figures New Yorkers just don't want to know happens in the projects?
Is this a "people like us" vs. "people like them" thingie? Poor people just don't deserve pets?
Is that the reasoning? Rich people have more rights than folks in the projects?
Say whaaat?
Enter Dracula Peter Vallone Jr., Stage Right 
Proving once and for all that he is a complete media whore, Vallone couldn't resist the opportunity to shoot his mouth off uh make a fool of himself uh pander once again to the public's most fearful, most racist tendencies--
"Finally someone is realizing that these potentially dangerous animals have no place in a confined urban space," said City Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens), who has unsuccessfully lobbied state legislators to ban the dogs.
Think Vallone has a clue about what he's saying? Any clue at all?
How many out of control Bedlington Terriers are there in New York public housing projects ?
I'm so excited. I just can't hide it.
With the ASPCA in there "negotiating" with NYCHA, and May 1st just hours away. . . the tension's killing me.
To calm my nerves, I'm gonna write a letter to the Chairman of the New York City Housing Authority, Ricardo Elías Morales. I'm going to ask him why rich people are protected by the laws of New York State, but people living in city housing projects aren't.
Then I'm going to ask him what he's got against Boston Terriers and the people who love them. . .even if they aren't rich.
"Finally someone is realizing that these potentially dangerous animals have no place in a confined urban space," said City Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens), who has unsuccessfully lobbied state legislators to ban the dogs.
Think Vallone has a clue about what he's saying? Any clue at all?
How many out of control Bedlington Terriers are there in New York public housing projects ?
I'm so excited. I just can't hide it.
With the ASPCA in there "negotiating" with NYCHA, and May 1st just hours away. . . the tension's killing me.
To calm my nerves, I'm gonna write a letter to the Chairman of the New York City Housing Authority, Ricardo Elías Morales. I'm going to ask him why rich people are protected by the laws of New York State, but people living in city housing projects aren't.
Then I'm going to ask him what he's got against Boston Terriers and the people who love them. . .even if they aren't rich.You should, too.
9 comments:
every time you think one breed banning has gone as far beyond self-parody as humanly possible, they top themselves.
What planet do these people live on?
Who ever even heard of those breeds???
Hey, but if they're banned I sure want me some.
Well let's see if a New Yorker can't use our support and take the challenge all the way to Albany. Though I hate it when dogs are banned because, let's face it, there are some real stoopid owners.
Of the 27 named breeds (as of May 1), 14 are so rare, there's probably not even ONE of each anywhere in NYC, let alone in public housing where any demand for
expensive rare dogs is effectively
non-existent. NYCHA just doesn't
want public housing residents to have dogs, as if public housing residents should be less privileged than the rest of us.
The real question is how NYCHA
can get away with banning ANY dog
at all, considering that there is
a longstanding state law prohibiting breed bans, which
would include all those dogs over
25 pounds. But there are also other state and city laws governing
responsible ownership of dogs and
other pets that can be effectively
used in specific instances where
pets are not well managed. I guess
it's easier for NYCHA to spout off
a lot of hot air than do anything
constructive to solve a problem.
IF there is a problem.
you know, I think they searched "fighting dogs" in WIKI to come up with these choices..
SaveOurPets, I don't know when NYCHA will finish "tweaking" their list of banned breeds. I'll update the blog when, or if, I hear anything further.
Maybe if (as EmilyS' comment points out) Wikipedia crashes. . .
OK, so according to the doggy gurus in NYC, there are over 30 'fighting breeds'.
Why is it that only APBTs and their distant cousins, the AST and SBT, are always described that way by trogs then?
You know, how 'pit bulls' were 'bred' (ha ha ha) to 'fight' blip blip zoink phreewwww.....
How about the other 27? Why do they skate?
Kory? Wayne? Anybody?
And who says Bedlingtons weigh over 25 lbs (17 - 23 lbs is standard) ...and why is 25 lbs the right weight? Seems to me if everybody has a 25-lb dog, then that's the new normal.
Didja hear the one about the yobs in the council flats fighting Chihuahuas in bathtubs?
How did these morons stumble into positions of authority?
I'm hoping that this sort of breed list wakes up some of the dog owners who keep telling themselves that they don't need to worry because their breed is cute and would never bite anyone. If Boston Terriers are on the list, there's no reason not to add your Golden Retriever or Miniature Poodle on the next one.
NYCHA narrowed the ban list to 3 breeds/types of dog: "pit bulls", Rotties and Dobies.
http://www.thevillager.com/villager_314/housingauthority.html
Huge thumbs up to Lisa Burris of PHROLES (Public Housing Residents of the Lower East Side): "this is about race — the implication is that all of our dogs are vicious, and by
association, that we're vicious"
Shame on the New York Housing Authority. What pride the authority can take in knowing tha tof the reported 119 dogs reported in AARP which have been surrendered have been Euthanized! I think the residents of public housing have more to fear from the people governing the housing authority then they do from the dogs.
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