ECHO PARK/SILVER LAKE : Lucky Dogs Get a 1-Year Leash-Off Life

The dog days of summer have taken on a literal meaning at the recreation area next to Silver Lake.

Some local residents and those from surrounding Echo Park have argued over whether to turn the center into a dog park, where canines can roam leash-free.

After a recent two-hour community meeting, City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg tossed dog-park proponents a bone by agreeing to a one-year pilot project that calls for fencing off a section of the center for the animals and their owners as of Oct. 1.

“I am not committed to making it permanent,” Goldberg told a group of more than 150. “We’re going to try as best we can for a year” and then consider making the dog area permanent.

Silver Lake resident David Wayne Louie, who was originally opposed to turning the whole center into a dog park, said, “This is a nice compromise. It’s going to keep all the people happy.

“I would actually bring my dog to that park,” said Louie, a 46-year-old former police officer who owns a retired police dog.

Details of the pilot project will be worked out after consultation with the city attorney’s office. Meanwhile, Goldberg has asked parks officials to put up a fence by the middle of this month that would separate the grassy field--where dogs can roam without a leash--from a children’s sandlot and basketball court, said Goldberg’s field director, Carmen Gonzalez.

A committee made up of local residents will also hold meetings to determine regulations for use of the park and enforcement.

It would be the third such park in Los Angeles County where leash laws are exempt. The others are in Laurel Canyon in Studio City and in Long Beach; no major problems have been reported in either place, officials said.

Penny Krebs, a 40-year-old Echo Park resident and owner of three Labrador retrievers, believes Goldberg’s proposal will work as long as aggressive dogs are restricted from the park and owners act responsibly to clean up after their animals.

“I think every city needs some area where the dogs could go to play,” said Krebs, who stopped taking her labrador retrievers to Silver Lake four months ago when she heard owners were cited for bringing unleashed pets.

Though the plan appeases dog park proponents, it has infuriated those who fervently believe that the less-than-one-acre recreation center belongs only to people. With or without a dividing fence, they say, unleashed dogs could bite or otherwise injure park-goers.

“This is ludicrous. . . . I think (a dog park) endangers the community,” said Ann-Marie Martin, 50, who has lived in Silver Lake for 26 years.

Another opponent of Goldberg’s proposal, Richard Tanzer, said he plans to file a claim against the city, citing the recreation center’s public nuisance problems with unleashed dogs, loud weekend music and early morning noise on the basketball court.

Goldberg’s field director, Gonzalez, said a possible lawsuit will not deter the councilwoman from acting on the pilot dog park project.