Editor:
After reading the letters to the editor, one can only come to the conclusion that there must be parallel promenades at White Rock Beach.
The promenade that I walk on is busy with couples, moms and dads with babies in strollers, runners, elderly people sitting on the benches, friends enjoying the scenery and the smell of salt air.
I also see people with their dogs enjoying their companionship and getting exercise. Everyone is polite and considerate of each other.
Yes, I have occasionally encountered some droppings left by a dog whose owners did not pick it up.
I pick it up as responsible dog walkers will. Others apparently are walking on a poop-covered promenade, pee-saturated grass with the smell of urine in the air.
I realize there are citizens that do not want dogs on the promenade, but some of their claims appear inflammatory.
The claim that “facts show that the dog population is unsustainable and possibly destructive” is, I suspect, taken from the book Time to Eat the Dog?: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living.
This book also suggests, “Do not get divorced until you find a new partner.”
From a recent letter: “Trees drink water, not dog urine.”
What does that even mean? Dogs and animals have been urinating in the forests since time began and it is greedy humans that are destroying our forests, not dogs.
Comparing dogs to the perils of smoking as a danger to selves and the environment is, in my opinion, over the top. I hope that the City in its good wisdom will look at the facts and make a wise decision as to whether or not to continue with this trial allowing dogs on leash on the promenade during the winter months.
Vickie Darts, White Rock
