Late last year, I moved into an apartment in the North End. I was really drawn to the building’s location because there was an off-leash dog park a stone’s throw from my door. The park was covered in “dogs welcome” signs. I visited regularly with my dog.
I was new to Halifax and got to meet a ton of my neighbors this way. Also, I felt the dog park helped keep the area safe: lots of people coming and going mean eyes on the neighborhood and people looking out for one another and homes, cars, etc. This was good because my neighborhood has a slightly patchy record.
All was well in the world until an asshole with two aggressive dogs started a campaign to remove people from the park. As it turns out, the park was run on the condo fees of one of the buildings in its area, and this is the condo complex that this asshole lives in. This mature gentleman didn’t like to share the park because his dogs are aggressive, and got sick of waiting for other users to leave. So, instead of compromising with people, he took it to his ‘community meeting’ or whatever, raised a stink, and now there are signs on the park saying “FOR *the condo* RESIDENTS ONLY.” He avoided any effort to organize/cooperate with neighbors, instead just kicking everyone out so he can have the palace to himself (most dog owners in the condo don’t ever use it). I’ve heard he was quite rude to one woman who has a very friendly dog, but other than that he just started an us-versus-them campaign to alienate the neighbors.
Well lo and behold, the park is EMPTY all the time now.
I can’t decide if I want the space back, or if I want the land re-purposed so that the empty space doesn’t attract crime (a few weeks ago there was a string of arsons in the neighborhood, and there may have been witnesses if neighbors had still felt comfortable using the park). Either way, I feel like I have a right to have some input in what goes on because, as I said, it’s a stone’s throw from my door.
I’ve tried to contact the building management but no response.
What would you do? —James
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.
is this the park behind centennial pool?
OB/OP here. no, it’s not. I’m very interested in what is happening with that park, though…???
just take your dog there don’t worry about it, not sure where this park you speak of is. i would continue to take my dog to this *private* park and see what happens
I like the way you think!
What is particularly funny about all of this is that the signs on the park actually have no legal standing.
For everyone’s info, a “PRIVATE PROPERTY” or “NO TRESPASSING” sign means just about nothing unless it includes information on the potential ramifications of breaking the recommendation on the sign.
Still, I “stand out” and so does my dog, in a sea of small yappers. I want to avoid the drama. But maybe if it’s all made of fluff, I should just barge ahead?
Considering going rogue….. llol
What’s happening with the park behind the pool is regular fucksticks keep bringing their dogs in there when it’s supposed to be for service dogs only, afaik. I have yet to hear of anything going on to rectify that, aside from walk by shamings.
are the signs permanent or is it just some sharpie scribble on a piece of cardboard? i’m really curious where this is, i know the northend well but haven’t had a dog for a year or so
Oh, that’s just wrong! Service dogs and their owners get special treatment, everyone should know and respect that.
The problem with my park is really the opposite. lol.
Nice dogs were coming, but their owners weren’t paying condo fees (and were completely unaware the park even belonged to a condo). Then a guy with two not-nice dogs throws a hissy fit and gets his way. Ass backwards, IMO…
i never see anyone in the service dog park, swamp but i’m not staring at it 24/7 or am i?
The signs are made with some printing program. Made to look serious, but have no legal validity.
As a “good person” I want to obey them, especially since hearing about the inappropriate confrontation with the woman. Obv, the guy doing the campaigning is angry and I don’t want to deal with his misdirected issues.
Paingirl, I don’t want to give specifics, but I will offer these descriptors.
Coming off a semi-main street is a wide “drive.” There are big apartment buildings on either entrance to the drive, and a string of housing units along the back of the drive. Behind one of the apartment buildings, facing the string of housing units, is a fenced in “DOGS WELCOME” park. It is hidden from the main street based on being on a (public) drive that comes off the road and is mostly used by immediate neighbors. The string of housing units supposedly own that dog park space, although no one would ever know it since it is technically closer to the apartment buildings on either side of the entrance to the drive.
It is North West of the Hydrostone.
i’ll suss it out, thanks. don’t worry i won’t cause any trouble, well maybe, no, yes^^
if the ‘park’ is actually part of the condo’s property, then it’s private property. was probably intended just for the fee-paying owners, but over time got used by nearby residents. the asshole used his condo bylaws to enforce the original intent.
they (he) are paying for it, so it’s theirs (his)
you could approach the strata committee with a proposal to pay into the building fund to allow you to use the park. but as is, it’s like going into someone else’s back yard.
Good dog Molly: I totally get that.
However, the placement of the park makes it a compelling community feature as it is smack in the middle of three properties.
Neighbors using the park were not making unusual mess or noise. In terms of day-to-day use of the general land, these are people who are moving in the exact same patterns and looking out their windows at the exact same streets and yards as the condo owners (mostly renters, actually). Perhaps they weren’t the intended users, but over time they became the MAIN users, and without them the park is a waste of everyone’s precious condo fees since it stands empty all. the. time.
It’s really NOT like going in someone’s back yard. Legally, perhaps, but in any logical way, no. In fact, this plot of land is so close to one of the apartment buildings that can’t use it, that it is literally THEIR backyard.
Good point about offering to pay in. That’s been suggested before. If i can get them to respond to me, I will
unfortunately, it’s not about what’s fair, or reasonable, kind or even logical. if they own the land, it’s theirs.
what you are talking about, use over the years giving rights, is squatting.
and I have a great deal of empathy for this, and not just because I am almost always on the side of the dogs. down the road is a perfect little beach on the lake. used to be a restaurant or something, burned down more than a decade ago. over the years, its been the perfect boat launch for fishing, a nice shallow spot for kids to swim in and a blissful place for people to swim their dogs, even a couple dead trees for a never ending supply of sticks. I took the dogs there after every ocean swim to wash the salt off.
all of a sudden last year the owner (no idea who it is) put up posts and chains blocking off the place to park and posted private property no trespassing signs. no idea why, who. during the latest heat wave, I parked on the verge and just let out the noofer to have a quick dunk. one ball thrown in and out. but the next day there was an even bigger, bright red sign posted right on the tree, saying KEEP OUT. I hate it. It makes me pretty angry, not just for me but that was the only place to launch your boat and had a great big flat space to park, people would park and eat their lunches looking out over the lake. it sucks, but my only legal recourse is to make sure my next house is waterfront.
Oh, fuck it, OP, take your pup there and screw what the old man bellows, his hounds and his condo laws. I know the park you’re talking about and, by the time a ‘dog cop’ reached you, you and Fido could hightail it for the harbour and include a trip to Tim Hortons on the way. However, if cranky old fossil dick releases the hounds, you’ll both have to do the sprint of your life. Until then, let your doggie enjoy the area and just don’t leave any steaming turd coils.
And what Painey said.
Good dog Molly:
oh, ugh. There is something so nasty about that kind of signage. It is so hostile while being so g*ddamn cowardly.
I’m from Toronto, where most people act in this jerkish way. Constantly in a tizzy, in a state of distress and insult and angry at someone, trying to get “the powers that be” to listen to them and just whiney whine whine.
With the exception of this one squeaky wheel who got the grease, Halifax seems to me to be the antithesis of this attitude. It’s just too bad the squeaky wheel is my neighbor and his squeaking effects my daily life.
I hear you about recourse. I am just grincing over here because moving into a building that seemed to have a dog park WAS my recourse, when I moved out here!
TT Fonebone
Anyone who says fossil dick is good in my books.
The only problem with your plan is that old fossil dick, I believe, knows where I live. This is gleaned from the fact that when he confronted my neighbor, he made it clear he knew where she lived (which she felt was true since she said he would watch her walk home… creep). And I don’t want my truck or bike vandalized.
Too paranoid?
OH and PS, based on your “sprint of your life” comment, it seems you may even know who fossil dick himself is!
He’s harassing people in public. Surely there is something in the law that will shut him up.
GreatBatshit,
this is why I take to Coast forums instead of “doing something.”
On the one hand, this guy is fussing over something he probably has every right to be as fussy about as he wants. He’s “in the right.”
On the other, he HIMSELF doesn’t follow the park rules because his aggressive dogs are not muzzled in the park (although getting rid of all the other park users has handily circumvented any potential negative interactions)… ((in addition to the other points raised by me and others.))
Should I be focusing on this, or is that stooping to his level? Like a little kid trying to bounce around the blame…
Too many dog stories lately, woof fucking woof
No op. His level is clearly somewhere along the lines of “I want to do my own thing and don’t want the public getting in my way”
Your level is the public level. You are standing up for the well being of many people. He is standing up for the well being of himself.
You’re not stooping. You’re standing up. There is a world of difference between a selfish action and an action against selfishness.
I’m angry enough to go there in the night and turd all over the park. Of course.. I’m regular but little. I’ll need some help 🙂
If he’s not breaking any laws, there are always perfectly legal (and beautifully annoying) ways to protest his behaviour.
Basil, Yup I agree, us dog people yap louder than our dogs do!
Batshit, I wonder what you have in mind? 🙂 Legal, of course.
I do feel the same way you do, hence the post. I cannot stand people who get all high and mighty on their weasly entitlements, and disenfranchise others because they CAN. There are bigger pictures to look at, IMO.
Your sense of entitlement is huge but not surprising in this day and age. If the park belongs to the condo why should you get to use it , then expect the person paying the condo fees to wait for you to use it free. This bitch is ridiculous.
OB, , you were a guest that is now no longer welcome. Just because you used to go there with your dog, do not confuse your guest status with any kind of of legal entitlement or unofficial entitlement.
i don’t think the op feels entitled, he just wanted some advice
Any chance you can move into one of the buildings, use the park all the time, and snub the old fuck?
“I’ve tried to contact the building management but no response. What I should I do?” James
James, you must leave the North End immediately. Don’t pack, just leave.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
use the HRM online mapping feature and you will soon determine if the park is public or private.
http://www.halifax.ca/giss/Disclaimer.php
Mont Blanc Terrace Park is an HRM park
Gladstone Ridge Park is an HRM park
your little “community feature” turned out to be private property. get over it.
Maybe I should bring my whippets. They’d sort things out.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
I saw an Italian Greyhound downtown, today. A cute frenetic little slip of a dog doing his level best to defy the law of gravity.
op, you sound like a nice guy, but the park isn’t public property. it’s crummy that it appeared that way when you moved in. its crummy that you can’t use it anymore, but I think you’re just going to get really frustrated if you keep gnawing at it with the ‘unfairness’ of it all.
yeah it’s unfair that it’s not being enjoyed as much. yeah it’s unfair that it was taken back by an asshole who doesn’t deserve it. yeah it irks that you have to look at it just sitting there going to waste. and yeah it’s crummy and lousy and dammit it all to heck and back, but don’t get mired in magical thinking about how to ‘get it back’.
best to get drunk and throw a cheap ashtray against the wall then LET IT GO.
OB , if you came out to my yard & let your dogs run around , I might get pissed off as well ( but I doubt it)
Unfortunately many people would be very put out by you using their yard for your dogs. The Condo owners are well within their rights to limit access to their property . If they weren’t then it follows you should also be able to use their pool , the exercise equipment. Park in their lot etc etc… It’s too bad for you , but I am onside with the owners of the place restricting its use.
This fuckstain needs to be publicly flogged.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/11…
i’d like to see a two for one with gail benoit
the Lunenburg idiot is being charged for not protecting his dog from ‘injurious’ heat or cold.
that ‘injurious’ wording in the current animal protection act is what is keeping permanently chained dogs from being helped.
with this dog, Jackie, sweet boy, charges can be laid because he died from the heat. ergo ‘it was ‘injurious’ to him.
with chained dogs, as long as they are still alive, it can be argued by the sunuvabitching owner’s lawyer that their situation is not ‘injurious’ and therefore not against the act.
this is the bloody merry go round that the dog groups and spca have been stuck with for years. inspectors can seize the dogs from horrid conditions, but they cannot win the case in court. the dog goes right back and some asshole sues them. the spca has its own care guidelines in their charter, but……they can’t enforce them. they have to enforce/endure the animal protection act of this province.
the govt is accepting input right now for revised wording under PAWS. we’ll see.
animal protection is one of those areas where you really see the chasm between what makes sense to an ordinary human being, and what the law stipulates.
I don’t understand what the governments problem is when it comes to animal rights, GDM. I was completely incensed by what that conservative toolbox, Jordie Morgan, said on the radio the other day. “I prefer to call it animal welfare rather than animal rights, because ‘rights’ are a human ideal”-what a fucking assclown. I wish it was physically possible to punch someone through my truck radio.
it would be good for nova scotia, we are number one for animal cruelty punishments. don’t fuck with us
( I always dither about what to call you – harper makes me gag, and shit-d just sounds crude) oh well. the flak who answers the ag min’s constituency office phone actually said to a caller that ‘the dog just needs a haircut’ about a notoriously neglected dog whose wretched picture is on the people for dogs f/b page. he says we doctor the pictures and spread rumours. the ag min himself drives past several chained dogs by his home, not the slightest concern for them. its not just this government, its previous as well. and not just here.
dogs are property, like a rug. very old saying. a woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more they’re beaten, the better they be.
I’m pretty happy the topic veered away from my condo drama and onto something that is a bit more important in the land of dogs.
Somehow it seems I gave off the impression that I’m OBSESSED with this park. I’m not. I was just coming to a “bitch” forum to bitch it out and brainstorm how to work out a totally solvable issue. At least, *I* tend to believe it’s solvable… and that when one single rigid person is the squeaky wheel who gets the grease, there is room for renegotiation. His followers can’t all be drinking the Koolaid. BUT ANYWAYS! It was fun until I started getting bitched back at, lol.
I’ve really loved living in Halifax and have LOVED how dog friendly it is. That was my general feeling, and still is.
above comment is by me, James, OP. using friend’s computer and account, just realized that.
black & tan shepherd???
and more insanity, a tethered dog fell off a deck and strangled to death in front of his packmates yesterday. person in house never noticed til the rcmp arrived after call from neighbour. why have 9 dogs if you just tie them up and ignore them?
seen at shubie park yesterday at the dog beach. some big guy racing around trying to catch his puppy (off leashed) because it wanted to run after other dogs who were leaving (mine). he was yelling it’s name but getting no obedience. how in bloody blue blazes do you think that letting an untrained dog off leash is going to magically ‘train’ him to come? why the heck should he? he is having fun and you’re mad. I wouldn’t come racing happily over to you if you sound mad. why should a little puppy? some people use off leash areas because they are too bloody lazy to train. off leash is for AFTER recall is mastered. not instead of. little puppies can go off leash in enclosed areas where you can catch them without calling. ya boob. you have single handedly taught him to NOT come.
je deteste certains humains
…and james, i got that because i read your bitch, a few times. sometimes bitch comprehension is lacking