Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Dog Poo in Harringay Passage- Anyone? Have we lost hope on this?
As a parent, volunteer class assistant, and now working on the School Travel Plan for South Harringay Juniors, I notice that time and time again the issue of 'Dog Poo in the Passage' is the number one complaint from parents and residents who walk in the passage.
I could go on about how tiresome and unhygenic it is but it's been said so often I'm sure you all get the drift. I wish I could get my head around what we could actually do to improve this.
Here are a few thoughts...
Enforcement
I don't see dog enforcement people about on the Harringay Passage (well I haven't so far, and I'm walking up an down all the time, but granted a person can be unlucky)
Has anyone spotted them or have information about whether they've been round lately?
Do residents ever call enforcement and report a 'fouling incident'? (to Haringey Council)
According to their website, the we should:
* report to enforcement - call 0208 489 5230/5240 or email enforcement@haringey.gov.uk
* not be obliged to approach a dog owner who is breaking the rules directly.
* (love this one, just seems weird)' you are not expected to give the dog owner's address, unless they are already known as a problem owner'. (whatever that means)
I'm making an assumption that other people aren't doing this, since I have just found out I can call enforcement (while researching in the process of reviewing the school TP).
Could we perhaps start a bit of community action and try and raise awareness of this issue again?
I am willing to be involved, and i'm sure it will be of interest to the other schools on the ladder also. (I will be in contact with them on other areas travel related anyway)
Ideas?
It occurs to me that whomever it is that takes their dog out for a poo on the Harringay Passage must do so early in the morning as there's always a few nice big fresh piles by the time I'm walking kids to school. Any thoughts about timing of these incidents from others?
Signage in the Passage
I think this might need some updating/ repair? I'm not sure if there are still signs all along the passage. What does everyone else think? Is it likely to make a difference? Do we think penalty notices are good/better than the (nicer to look at) children's drawing type notices?
Poo Bag Dispensers?
Perhaps we should ask the council to look at putting in some bag dispensers since there does seem to be a minority of dog owners who either refuse to, or simply can't manage to remember to take one out with them. I say this having walked my (dog share) dog in other areas where they have had little dispensers with bags for those who may have gone out without remembering them.
Is there any potential to put up some empty dispensers and then get residents to recycle little bags from shopping /vegetables etc for this use?
I do realise vandalism is a problem with this suggestion, but I also wonder if it's time to try something new?
Advice / Ideas / Corrections....received gratefully...
I could go on about how tiresome and unhygenic it is but it's been said so often I'm sure you all get the drift. I wish I could get my head around what we could actually do to improve this.
Here are a few thoughts...
Enforcement
I don't see dog enforcement people about on the Harringay Passage (well I haven't so far, and I'm walking up an down all the time, but granted a person can be unlucky)
Has anyone spotted them or have information about whether they've been round lately?
Do residents ever call enforcement and report a 'fouling incident'? (to Haringey Council)
According to their website, the we should:
* report to enforcement - call 0208 489 5230/5240 or email enforcement@haringey.gov.uk
* not be obliged to approach a dog owner who is breaking the rules directly.
* (love this one, just seems weird)' you are not expected to give the dog owner's address, unless they are already known as a problem owner'. (whatever that means)
I'm making an assumption that other people aren't doing this, since I have just found out I can call enforcement (while researching in the process of reviewing the school TP).
Could we perhaps start a bit of community action and try and raise awareness of this issue again?
I am willing to be involved, and i'm sure it will be of interest to the other schools on the ladder also. (I will be in contact with them on other areas travel related anyway)
Ideas?
It occurs to me that whomever it is that takes their dog out for a poo on the Harringay Passage must do so early in the morning as there's always a few nice big fresh piles by the time I'm walking kids to school. Any thoughts about timing of these incidents from others?
Signage in the Passage
I think this might need some updating/ repair? I'm not sure if there are still signs all along the passage. What does everyone else think? Is it likely to make a difference? Do we think penalty notices are good/better than the (nicer to look at) children's drawing type notices?
Poo Bag Dispensers?
Perhaps we should ask the council to look at putting in some bag dispensers since there does seem to be a minority of dog owners who either refuse to, or simply can't manage to remember to take one out with them. I say this having walked my (dog share) dog in other areas where they have had little dispensers with bags for those who may have gone out without remembering them.
Is there any potential to put up some empty dispensers and then get residents to recycle little bags from shopping /vegetables etc for this use?
I do realise vandalism is a problem with this suggestion, but I also wonder if it's time to try something new?
Advice / Ideas / Corrections....received gratefully...
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
-
Maybe getting the kids to make stencils to paint on rather than using signs.. although I think the softly, softly approach with language might not be the right one.. 'please don't let your dog foul the pathway' or 'dog poo' may be child friendly but not really what's needed.
Thank You For Not Shitting (here)
I'd rather see language like: 'Take your shit home with you' or 'Don't shit here' used - meant to outrage and to work!
-
Permalink Reply by Alison P on
-
Hi Rachel
I've posted about this before (as have many others) and I've have had various exchanges with the council about enforcement, but with not very much effect. I did have an exchange with Nilgun C (I think it was her) about the publicity that surrounded Haringey's 'new' attack on this a year or so ago, and this just made me feel that there wasn't really any way of Haringey cracking it. There certainly doesn't seem to be any way of dealing with it through actual enforcement - there doesn't appear to be anyone who actually patrols for this sort of thing, there are no cameras or anything, so short of someone following an offending dog owner home and then reporting where they live I just can't see any way of actually prosecuting anyone. That said, I do think it is worth calling the helpline or emailing to report it - perhaps if more people did this they might take it more seriously? I did wonder about having a week where we try and blitz it - have patrols in the passage at key times (eg early morning) and report anyone who we saw letting their dog do this, but I suspect that is wishful thinking.
As you can probably guess, I've slipped into being furiously apathetic about the whole thing. But you're right, we shouldn't give up. I think the answer is trying to come up with something creative that just makes it a little bit harder to do - but that's the £100 question. Personally I'm not convinced about the bag dispensers. I don't think the kind of person who lets their dog crap right outside a school would stop to use one. And I'd worry about the bags (full or empty) just being one more thing that lies around on the pavement.
-
Permalink Reply by KP on
-
I don't think problem is just contained to the Passage. It's a problem all around Harringay and really lets down the area. I have noticed it a lot around Finsbury Park recently. I'm not sure posters and dag dispensers are going to make much of a difference. The kind of people who do this really are not that bothered about the area or the people who live here. What is needed is a much tougher approach and maybe we should be electing people who genuinely want to tackle this sort of anti-social behaviour and not just talk about it!
-
Permalink Reply by empyrean_aisles on
-
There is a story on this week's This American Life podcast about a company called Poo Prints who use DNA testing to match poo to particular dogs.
I doubt it would work for our area, because all the dogs in the area need to have given a DNA sample in order for the poo to be matched to the dog. (In the story, it was shown working with self-contained communities like apartment blocks and gated communities, where anyone who wanted to move in with a dog had to give a sample of its DNA.) But, I mention it because in these situations it did actually solve the problem.
-
Permalink Reply by Angela on
-
Rachael, I think you are right that this is happening early in the mornings.
I regularly see fresh poo right by the railings of North Harringay Primary school.
-
Permalink Reply by Karen Alexander on
-
This has been an ongoing issue for many years and despite various initiatives by the council they have been unable to crack it effectively.
I have again written to the relevant departments to ask them to revisit this issue and asked that we work together to come up with a long lasting solution. The problem isn't just confined to the passage, it is a problem across the ward but seems concentrated here.
I will keep you updated on progress.
Cllr Karen Alexander
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Of course this also relies on the animals in questions not being too closely related to one another...
-
-
Introduce the Harringay Pound - Harringay Dog Pound, that is. Fairland Park might be a suitable site. Traffic Wardens double as Ward Dog Catchers to round up all dogs. SNT round up the owners. Saturday mornings: a super-cull, owners shooting their own dogs. Children of NHS & SHS applaud their best lesson of the week, then bury the critters deep.
Alternatively, we could put a polite poster here and there, and another post to HOL next July, say.
-
Permalink Reply by matt on
-
What Fairland Park needs is a horse, well, more importantly its manure. Dig it into the garden (yet to be dug) east corner of the park. Lose pounds rather than giving them to Branson's Virgin in these hard times. Grow tomatoes, lots of tomatoes. Let the kids throw the really squishy ones at the naughty dog/cat owners; an educational 'Good Life' paintball all-for-the-community competition disguised as the Harringay Tomato Festival. And that's just the beginning for the newly formed Fairland Radical Association. OAE, I announce you duely elected as patron saint. First meeting 31st November.
Target practice to be held in ball court;
-
-
It lacks something of the Swiftian, perhaps, but the Dean will soon be all too preoccupied churning out tasty recipes for the IMFed citizens of Dublin.
Come to that, a well-fed pitbull would make a wholesome meal for a family of four while they're fattening up their youngest for a meat pie or fricassee . . . .
-
Permalink Reply by Nigel Lupton (luptonn) on
-
Presumably the owners that allow their animals to crap all over our streets know its wrong and just don't care, so although your post was in jest OAE, why shouldn't they loose the right to own an animal.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
