Dog Community

Help keep dogs allowed at outdoor seating please

Posted : 8/22/2009 3:43:08 PM

Ugh just when Raleigh was getting a wonderful, dog friendly, cosmopolitan feel the clearly under worked powers that be at the Food Protection Branch are 'reinterpreting a rule' and want to ban dogs from accompanying their owners at outdoor dining facilities.
What a huge step backwards!!!
To me it reeks of someone within the department or someone with influence in the department who hates dogs.
Seriously do they have so little work that they need to find work?
If so in this time of severe budget crises let's transfer these bored workers to a department that is running on the skin of their teeth!

But more importantly what can you do?
Well you can write to the idiot in charge:
Larry Michael
Food Protection Branch
NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources
1632 mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1632

Even if you are not local we would appreciate you writing a letter in - it would be a terrible shame for Wake County to allow this to happen. All the coolest hangouts allow dogs on the patio.
Just when we were getting cool............
Here's the original link

LINK

JackieG

Posted : 8/22/2009 7:54:14 PM

That stinks. I'll write a letter. When officials have knee jerk reactions to complaints, assuming that's what happened, sometimes they are willing to reconsider if they hear from the other side. It costs restaraunts money to lose dog loving patrons. More and more tourists and retired travelers have their dogs with them and they appreciate a dog friendly city.

kpwlee

Posted : 8/22/2009 8:32:00 PM

Thank you!

it is just so ridiculous - they are 're-interpreting' an old rule in order to ban dogs. I sincerely doubt there have been complaints. All the places we have frequented love having the dogs around, people just stop and pet as they walk by, the servers have logged us in as Bugsy, other patrons pet him and I've never seen a misbehaved dog. We passed this teeny place a while back that just had two outdoor patio tables and it had a water bowl out there just in case.

And you are so right the business owners are in a panic. Downtown Raleigh has gotten so cosmopolitan in the last few years, has a wonderful climate for casual outdoor dining and the amount of places allowing dogs has grown a ton in the last few years. They have built all these apartments downtown and the people in them are young and there are enough dog owners that a few months ago they installed poop bag dispensers and collection bins.

Just insane and I am very peeved!

I put this here, on my blog, wrote a letter to the editor and to the idiot in charge. This is a dog loving community that raised $167,000 in the one day spca walk - I don't think this will go lightly, I think there will be a huge uproar. Hoping so anyway.

gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

JackieG

Posted : 8/31/2009 5:10:50 PM

Karen, I got a reply from Larry Michael in response to my letter. Basic government speak saying thanks for your comments and they are reviewing the enforcement of the existing rules, blah, blah. I'm curious who the "group of stakeholders" are that he mentions as being involved in the review process. Well, maybe if enough people write and complain they will rethink their enforcement plan.

kpwlee

Posted : 8/31/2009 8:23:44 PM

You are way cool Jackie - I know you know that but thought I'd say it again LOL

about a week after they said that dogs were no longer allowed an attorney decided that they couldn't re-interpret the rule and come to that conclusion BUT the attorney general was going to have to settle it.

link

kpwlee

Posted : 9/13/2009 9:49:47 AM

Back at it again LINK

this reeks of some inside BS - helps us out folks!

JackieG

Posted : 9/15/2009 5:55:11 PM

I just saw this. Sheesh, doesn't that Michael guy have anything more important and health threatening to worry about?? It's a wonder we aren't all dead from the dog borne diseases lurking all over our pets. Ridiculous. **off to write another letter**