Mailbag: Visitors to unofficial dog beach should respect neighbors

Visitors to unofficial dog beach should respect neighbors

Everyone likes dogs, myself included. It was easy for the dog owners to band together and present a large front to try to maintain the open dog area at the mouth of the Santa Ana River.

The issue was generated because of some residents’ complaints. Not every dog owner picks up after their dog or obeys other canine regulations for leashes on the rest of the beach. Nor do they think in terms of their personal activities multiplied by 100, as my neighbors have to do. So now the word is out, and we should expect even more doggy visitors.

As a person who lives in the area, what does that mean to the neighborhood? It is amazing to me how many people walk their dogs down the alley instead of on the grass along Seashore Drive leading to the play area. We even have dog walkers with six dogs at a time walking the alley. That means we have to pick up poop after some dogs, which I have done in my carport and in front of my house.

The alley is also the main entrance for most of the residents. Because we have no yards, dogs walk there all day, peeing right on the front door areas and the garages. The result is a dog urine smell that then greets the homeowners every time we use our main doors.

Dogs are also not always friendly with strangers or each other. That leads to a major cacophony of barking and yelping all day, not to mention our concern for our children trying to play outside the house with lots of strange dog traffic.

So I would ask the dog owners to help police their own group, otherwise they will get restrictions. Be as diligent helping monitor the situation with all the dogs as you are about demanding dog rights. And a little advice: Try to walk your animals along the grass. Your dog, and my neighbors, will thank you.

Bruce Boyd

Newport Beach

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Sanders-style socialism is no inspiration

Re. “Commentary: Bernie Sanders may not win but he is an inspiration to seniors,” (March 10): Perhaps the writer, Benjamin J. Hubbard, could provide a list of legislation recently passed by the efforts of Sen. Sanders.

He is not really a Democrat, but a socialist, a proponent of a failed economic system. As a senior, he is certainly no inspiration to me.

Peter S. Bordas

Newport Beach