L.A. Tries to Resolve War Over ‘Dog Park’ : 2 More Sites Urged to Disperse Pets

Too much barking and too little parking at Los Angeles’ first doggie playground may force two more city parks to go to the dogs.

City parks officials said Friday that they are recommending that dog exercise areas be created in the Sepulveda Basin and in Griffith Park to relieve pressure on a popular “dog park” established as an experiment a year ago at Laurel Canyon Park off Mulholland Drive south of Studio City.

The Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners will be asked Monday to establish the leash-free exercise areas and to extend the city’s welcome to dogs at Laurel Canyon Park for at least another six months.

So many dog owners use Laurel Canyon Park that its 4-acre lawn is overrun by canines and its 20-space parking lot is overwhelmed by cars, opponents of the dog park claim. They complain that the grass is covered with dog droppings and that the air is filled with constant yapping and barking.

Making Their Point

Dog park opponent David Allen said residents plan to “present bags of fecal matter” scooped from the park lawn to commissioners at Monday’s meeting to make their point.

City Councilman Michael Woo, whose district includes the park, will urge that additional parking controls be imposed to prevent congestion at the park.

Woo thinks that the creation of the additional 1.5-acre dog parks at Woodley Park in Encino and at Griffith Park near Glendale will reduce the number of dogs using Laurel Canyon Park and relieve the barking problem, said Diana Brueggemann, his Studio City field deputy. Some observers think that it is “one of the cleanest parks around,” she said, and its opponents exaggerate the dog feces problem.

Dog lovers plan to attend Monday’s 2 p.m. City Hall commission meeting and demand that Laurel Canyon Park be made a permanent dog park. Nearby residents who oppose the dog park intend to protest its use by unleashed dogs.

‘Not Healthy Out There’

“We have the only park in America where the dogs are on the outside and the children are fenced in,” said Jerry Greenfield, president of the Laurel Hills Homeowners Assn., referring to a small, fenced kiddie area at the park. “It’s not healthy out there, with all the dog excrement lying around.

“There are swarms of flies,” he said. “Because of feces and urine from the tremendous number of dogs, parents and children won’t go to it. The park’s basically become a private kennel.”

He said dog owners routinely ignore a requirement to keep dogs leashed between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., when children are more likely to be present.

Dog lovers reply that the park is cleaner than it has ever been and that heavy usage by dog owners has ended the days when it was a graffiti-marred hangout for gang members and drug users.

“I feel dogs are part of the security at the park,” said Jane Purse, who lives near the park. “Gangs do not like dogs and the fact that so many people come to that park. I’d love to dump bags of Day-Glo condoms and drug needles that I used to pick up at the park on the commissioners’ desks on Monday.”

Purse said she won’t be at the hearing, however. During her most recent visit to the park three weeks ago, she said, her 75-pound Doberman knocked her down and broke her leg.