Dog Owners and Parents Face off in Greenpoint Park

Greenpoint’s Transmitter Park, just opened in August, might be a victim of its own success — not to mention another front on the parents vs hipster wars. DNAinfo reports that tensions between dog owners and parents are running high in the 1.6 acre park. Part of the reason is that neither has many other options in that corner of Greenpoint. One parent told DNAinfo: “My friends stopped going there because there are so many dogs. There’s a whole pile of dogs there running around without a leash. The owners couldn’t care less, when I confront them. It’s not fair, it just takes over this area.” Dog owners, not surprisingly, see it from a different perspective. “Anything west of McGuiness Boulevard has no dog run, every dog owner talks about it,” a dog owner told the reporter. “The only other run is McGolrick Park so on weekends we have to drive over there. I understand people’s concerns, but what I’m concerned about is the lack of planning to get a dog run in the neighborhood.” Despite the plans for a significant amount of green space in Greenpoint resulting from the 2005 rezoning, Transmitter Park is the first one to come to fruition so far. Is development here outpacing open space or are dogs and children just destined for conflict?

Dogs Versus Babies Turf War Breaks out in New Waterfront Park [DNAinfo]
Greenpoint’s Transmitter Park Opens This Saturday [Brownstoner]
City Requests Proposals, Hopes to Create Greenpoint Park [Brownstoner]

Photo by joannkim217