Sense and Nonsense
Published 11 months, 4 weeks ago in My life.Now here’s another bit of wonderful Glen Eira nonsense. What makes it worse, is that the logic beggars belief. Following are two consecutive paragraphs from Council’s ‘Media Release’ dated 21st November.
“,,,that unless you are in an area displaying the green off-leash sign, you must keep your dog on a leash, which does not exceed 1.5 meters in length.”
Additionally, dogs must always be on a leash within 50 meters of barbecues or picnic areas; playgrounds; sporting events; sportsground preparation; and organised public meetings.”
Folks, in a normal world, this would be coherent, logical, and straight forward. But not in Glen Eira since over half of their signage is a total stuff-up. Barbecues are smack in the middle of off leash areas, signage is 10 metres from playgrounds, and definitions of ‘picnic areas’ are open to interpretation. For instance, does the erection of a table constitute a ‘picnic area’? More importantly, to most clear thinking people the above simply means that if the sign says ‘off leash’, then it is off leash. But not in good old Glen Eira!!! Given that the majority of signage is inaccurate this makes the second of the above two paragraphs totally contradictory. On the one hand, dog owners are ordered to obey the signs, on the assumption that they are accurate, then expected to be 50 metres away at the same time. Perhaps Council would be better served by dog owners who are blind, so that they can’t read signs, and also come with inbuilt odometers (as in cars) so that they intuitively know when they are exactly 50 metres from a barbecue. Monty Python you ain’t got nothing on this mob!
3 Responses to “Sense and Nonsense”
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And in some parks once you take the 50 metre rule into account, there is no room to walk at all!
Does the rule apply when there are no people present at the BBQs? or are you required to put the lead on the dog every time a person comes near it, regardless of whether the person is walking in the dog’s space? (do dogs have any unrestricted areas they can claim for fun time with other dogs with the worry of people making a fuss about them roaming?)
Mary, mary, mary, you should know by now that dog owners are literally the bottom of the heap when it comes to open space. As to your question regarding whether anyone is at a barbecue or not, I refer you to the Leader articles on boyd park where rangers were prowling about at the playgrounds at 7am just waiting for dogowners to walk past. Boyd Park owners reported that there was never anyone using the playground at that time. I’d hazard a guess that most kids would still be sleeping, or getting ready for school! Also, in the not too distant past another ranger (notorious for her zealousness) was spotted sitting in her batmobile in the pouring rain at 6am, in the dark, along the Elster Creek Trail. Now that’s what I call real dedication to the job - or is it simply revenue raising?