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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I get that it's annoying but Battery Kemble has been a de facto off-leash dog park for at least the 20 years I've been taking my dog there and likely much longer. There is essentially 0% chance that this is going to change for many reasons, not the least among them that the entitled off-leash walkers are among the richest, most powerful, and influential residents of the city.

My advice to you is don't go there if you don't like it, and learn to let things go. [/quote]

You are disregarding a few relevant considerations.

NPS installed new signage a year or two ago that makes the prohibition on unleashed dogs - and the associated penalties - much clearer than it was before.

NPS did not need to incur the cost and hassle of designing and installing those signs and would have done so if they were OK with it being a “de facto” dog park. Claiming that it is OK to walk unleashed dogs there is about as dumb as claiming that people should shoplift because there aren’t cops standing outside every store waiting to shoot those who don’t pay.

It’s an open question whether the Park Police is enforcing the law. The word is that they are just letting dog owners off with warnings. I have no first hand evidence that this is true.

But I do know that there are folk in the community - rich, entitled, influential folk too, I’d post - pressuring NPS to crack down on the problem. There have been a number of people and (leashed) dogs bitten by unleashed dogs over the past few years and the only way to stop this from happening is for the Park Police to make a point of handing out fines to offenders.[/quote]

If the new signage has been up for two years and absolutely nothing has changed, I think that proves my point exactly that at this point it's too entrenched to change.

NPS can post all the signs you want, they can even "crack down" and issue tickets but the instant they stop people will just go right back to walking their dogs off leash. Short of posting multiple park police officers there 24/7, which will never, ever happen, Battery Kemble will always remain a de facto off leash dog park.

To make an exaggerated point, the way you are approaching this is as if we passed a law that says things must fall up, and now you're wondering why they don't. "But doesn't gravity know that it's illegal? Why are things still falling down!" 
[/quote]

Your arguments aren’t making any more sense.

One could argue that short of posting MPD officers outside every CVS in DC 24/7, which will never, ever happen, shoplifting will always be de facto legal.

Would you like to make that case also?

This is very simple. There are signs in multiple places in that park that make it crystal clear that federal law requires your dog to be leashed while in the park.

If you want to maintain that this law doesn’t apply to you because you are special, fine, but you should at least understand that you will be a total hypocrite should you complain about any other type of lawbreaking.

If the Park Police do catch you walking your dog off leash, I can only hope you’ll have your day before a judge where you can make your “de facto” argument[/quote]

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