Dog rules for county parks get another look

40% of all households in San Mateo County have a dog and want to be able to access our county parks—public parks that we are paying for. County Parks needs to spend less time focusing on how to fine and harass dog owners and more time figuring out how to provide equitable access for 40% of the public which has been excluded from most of San Mateo County Parks for decades.

The county's never-ending effort to criminalize the heinous act of dog walking boggles the mind. Fines for leash length? Are you kidding me? This is how the great minds of our county government work? Not to mention that the limit on the number of dogs is a gutshot to the dog walker business, on which thousands of commuters rely daily. Dear County: Butt out! You are wasting our time and money and have no interest in the welfare of 40% of the voters. We are going to walk our dogs, anyway. Why create needless conflict? You would be better served to put restrictions on yuppies, drones, tourists, and clueless humans and their Doritos wrappers.

County Parks is sorely lacking leadership. This is the second time in 6 months it's had to make a significant change to a flawed ordinance. For context, County Parks acting leadership bypassed its own commissioners seeking jail terms for dog walking violations in the original ordinance. The Supervisors had to step in then, just like now to fix a cobbled together ordinance. Recreational dog walkers need fair access to parks and trails just like every other user group. It's long past time to bring in experienced leadership, someone who has a proven track record in parks, recreation, open space and conservation. County Parks has not had a permanent director WITH proven experience since August 2017 -- it's been rudderless for almost two years now.

I have been walking dogs on the Pillar Point Bluff for over 40 years and I resent the County's attempt to criminalize this activity. Most of the 40% of households in San Mateo County that own dogs would not consider accessing our county parks without our dogs; does anyone think that we would come home after work and go for a walk without our companions? Our dogs require a place to play and exercise off leash and there is no better place to do so than the Pillar Point Bluff. Post purchased the land and turned it over to SMC Parks to manage and then the troubles began. Matt Del Carlo, District 4 Ranger, also known as Mr. Infrastructure, has already built industrial strength roads into our park which detracts from the quality of our experience. Now he assigns his rangers to ride on bicycles and golf carts to harass and ticket us for an activity that the entire community has exercised for decades. This is our community, we pay taxes and we vote. Matt, Peggy Jensen, and The Board of Supervisors are in office to represent, not repress the community. Enough is enough, leave us alone to enjoy our spaces as we have historically. No fines, no ticketing, no harassment.

Ridiculous! Supervisors try to do something good, like increase access for families and their dogs beyond the current 5% available, and the Parks dept under Peggy Jensen take it as an opportunity to fine dog owners in historically off-leash areas. There is no point talking to the Parks Dept - they have an anti-dog culture historically. We have to get organized and vote out some Supervisors until they get the message and provide fair access to County Parks (tax-payer funded) for the 40% of families that own a dog. Marin and East Bay have approx 90% access, San Mateo has 5% ! The Supervisors need to dump the fines and order the Parks Dept to get with the fair access program for dog owners and their families.

Seems to me that the process has gone off the rails. What I believe was designed to be a positive expansion of dog access has turned negative with the County starting to fine people in areas where dogs have been off-leash for years like Pillar Point Bluff and Quarry Park. I can't imagine that someone could pay that much money for hanging out in a County Park with a dog off leash.

It is unbelievable to me that only FIVE percent of the county parks trails are open to ON LEASH dogs. ALL of the trails should be open to onleash dogs and places that have historically had dogs OFF leash should be allowed to continue to do so.
Surrounding counties have much more dogg access than San Mateo County. Why is that ? Don’t the tax payers of San Mateo county also have the right to walk their dogs in county parks?
And why are horses allowed on a much larger percentage of the trails? Is there a bias against dog owners and in favor of the much smaller group of equestrians who just may have friends in high places?
Quarry Park and Pillar Point Bluff should not start criminalizing off leash dog walking without any reason other than “it’s a county park”. Traditional off leash use of these areas has not been negated just by a change in management.
And ALL parks should allow on leash dogs on ALL of their trails unless there is a specific environmental hazard associated with having dogs in that area.
The parks are for the people. The people have dogs; at LEAST forty percent of them anyway. And when we go out to enjoy these areas we want to bring our companions. They are the ones that get us outside in the first place.
Stop restricting access to our own “darn” parks.
PS are you serious that people can’t use “D***” as it’s profanity?

First of all I totally concur with Vallemar2!
INCLUSION not EXCLUSION! Building communities not dividing communities...
There have been extensive research and medical studies showing the benefits of having dogs and the benefits of being outdoors in nature for people of all ages .... physically and mentally. Furthermore, Using the trails and recreating outdoors with your dogs is crucial for their well being as well and to be well adjusted members of our society... “a well behaved dog is a tired dog” .

Therefore, San Mateo County parks should be promoting and expanding the usage of county parks in all of its communities for everyone to get out on a regular ritual and routine to walk and exercise their dogs, and NOT reducing and excluding dog owners and their companions and definitely not penalizing them because they can’t adequately exercise their dogs at the end of a 6 foot leash!

Dog owners in San Mateo county pay their fair share of taxes and should have the rights to use the county parks. This is absolutely appalling that the county is making “ outlaws” of people who just want to recreate with their k9 companions in open spaces such as Pillar Point Bluff and the quarry of El Granada ... like they have been doing for decades before county parks recently acquired these lands.
We are definitely going backwards with this new dog ordinance, why can’t we look to our neighboring county to our north, San Francisco for guidance? no need to recreate the wheel so To Speak!

The comments to this article barely begin to touch on the frustrations many of us dog owners in San Mateo County have with the Parks Dept and their process for providing access for dogs in their parks.

Not only have they taken away areas that were off-leash for dogs before (and in turn imposed high fees and leash-only rules), but they have a Dog Work Group that is not representative of the County's residents. There is little representation on this committee for the vast majority of the population that does not live by the coast. Subsequently, the only areas they are designating for dogs (and unfortunately, these are leash-only for now) are by the coast.

The Dog Work Group is planning 2 leash pilots that are not near where I live with my dog (Redwood City). It's clear there is no interest on the part of the Board of Supervisors nor the Parks Dept to really provide many off-leash areas b/c they are only planning 1 off-leash pilot and it doesn't start until the 2 leashed pilots are well on their way: the Dog Work Group doesn't have to provide their 1 and only off-leash pilot until near the end of 2019. And you can see by the fact that they took off-leash away for those of us who used to take our dogs to the coast to these parks that the whole process is biased against dogs. It's not clear who on the Dog Working Group even represents the interests of dog owners like us. We can see that most of the members are from the coast or Parks Dept (again not representing where most of us live on the Peninsula) and they don't publish what dogs the members of the Work Group have or how they like to exercise their dogs. Do any of the members of this group even have a dog that can go off-leash?

I could go on and on about the signs of how little the County cares about the growing need for off-leash dog areas and the fact that they provide so few options for dog owners compared to other Bay Area Counties. At the very least, the Board of Supervisors should tell the Parks Dept to impose more reasonable fees for dog owners who visit these parks and are unaware of the ridiculous changes!

San Mateo County is the least dog friendly place in the Bay Area, and that needs to change. San Mateo County had always had a total ban on dog owners bringing their dogs to county parks. Only after acquiring places already open to dog walking did they grudgingly consider “options” - which included fines for people walking their dogs in places where dogs have always been off-leash for years, like Pillar Point Bluff and Quarry Park. Now they even want to come out with a tape measure and measure your leash! The County Supervisor should get rid get rid of the bureaucrats they let muck this up, or they’ll end up voted out of office - 40% of households have dogs, enough to hold them accountable.

Does it really need to be this difficult? County Parks should just let off-leash dog walking continue at Quarry Park and Pillar Point Bluff where it’s been working well for decades and allow on-leash dog walking in all of our county parks unless there’s a real reason why dogs should not be allowed (like at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve). And please stop with the crazy fines!

These ridiculous fines and rules are just the indicator of a more serious problem, discrimination against dog owners that has been pervasive with the county for many, many years. It's about time this county opened up its parks to families with pets that want to use our beautiful parks. There are barely any that even allow dogs on leash, let alone any needed off leash areas. It's time to keep up with other neighboring counties and allow us to bring our pets to the park with us. You're not just discriminating against dogs, you're keeping our families out of the parks that we pay taxes to support.