By an incredible vote of 16 to 2, Jon Cooper’s bill to create the first two legal dog runs in Suffolk County passed the County Legislature on Tuesday, May 13th! The two runs are located at Coindre Hall and West Hills Park in Huntington.  Given the hostile reaction we first met with when we started working on this issue, last night’s results are amazing! In the end, our chief opponent Ginny Fields (D-Oakdale) gave in, saying all she wanted all along was “a plan”. (And, we thought her main concern was the environment!) Then, with raucous, but good natured jokes about the meeting “going to the dogs” and the sponsor “running with the big dogs now,” Jon’s bill passed on a voice vote.  The only two opponents were Michael Caracciolo (R-Riverhead) and Alan Binder (R-Huntington). A bill sponsored by Leg. Binder, which would gut the intent of a law allowing dog runs in Suffolk County, was the subject of a public hearing yesterday as well. (Click here to read about the bill.) Dog owners still need to watch out for Leg. Binder and his bill!

     When it comes to the surprising outcome of the vote on Coindre Hall and West Hills Park, the hours of work put in by Leg. Cooper (D-Huntington) and his chief aide, Barbara LoMoriello, were a major factor. Throughout the process, their ability to read the political situation and understand what needed to be done to achieve our goal was invaluable.  Just as important was all the work—the phone calls, the showing up at meetings, the distributing of flyers—that our supporters did. We have to think that these legislators got enough calls and saw us often enough that opposing dog runs at Coindre Hall and West Hills Park didn’t make political sense to them anymore.

     Finally, we have to thank all the parks officials, private park sponsors, environmentalists, and attorneys we spoke to regarding their experiences with dog parks. Their knowledge and insights helped tremendously in our efforts to convince legislators that dog parks do not pose a threat to the environment, they do not raise legal issues, that they are extremely popular with residents, and most importantly, that park sponsors consider their dog runs to be extremely successful.

     We still have work to do to make the dog runs at Coindre Hall and West Hills Park the cream-of-the-crop runs we all want them to be. And, we’re committed to opening up more Suffolk County Parkland to dog owners and their dogs!

     For now, though, we can savor our win in the legislature. We organized and we made a difference!