At 12th and H streets NE. By Sarah Anne Hughes.The D.C. government is now posting signs warning dog owners to pick up their pet’s poop or face big fines.
The signs are a joint collaboration between the District Department of the Environment, Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works, with DDOE taking the lead and paying for the signs with stormwater money. Under an illustration of a person scooping a dog’s poop, the signs display the possible fine amount and a warning about the harmful impacts of canine waste. The language to “pick up” after a dog, rather than to curb a dog, is key, Davis says, as the latter encourages people to send waste into local waterways.
DDOE’s Diane Davis says 300 signs were installed this spring in all eight Wards. With help from DDOT crews, DDOE first installed the signs where the Department of Health had received complaints about rats. (Dog poop, as Councilmember Jim Graham once put it, “is like an energy bar to rats.”) Four signs are put on an average block, facing both the sidewalk and street. Even more signs are put up near a pocket or triangle park, where dogs and their owners commonly congregate. By the end of May, DDOE was out of signs.
Davis, the Chesapeake Bay coordinator for DDOE, said sign placement is 100 percent complaint based. While complaints should be sent to 311, Davis says she personally fields about 10 calls per day from people angry about dog poop. (The Department of Health fields many, as well.) DDOE doesn’t install the signs directly in front of a home, unless it’s on a corner, as that can make people angry, too. Davis explained that homeowners were concerned sign placement in front of their property made them look like the guilty party. (“That makes my house look dirty!”) To further justify the signs, Davis hands out flyers to property owners that explain, among other things, that dog waste continues bacteria that can pollute local waterways.
“What we’re after is to change human behavior,” David said, adding that it won’t be an easy task. Even with signs on the street, Davis said they’re still receiving complaints. The biggest success has been in Ward 3, although she couldn’t explain why.
DDOE has considered making bags available, but that would cost money that’s not available, Davis said, and could undo the good done by the five cent bag tax. Yes, Davis says, people have complained that the tax makes it harder to obtain bags to pick up the poop.
The next round of signs will be installed this fall, and there’s already a wait list. A request can be added through 311.
“It’s become our issue. It’s become our responsibility. It’s another form of pollution,” Davis said, adding, “It’s never the dog’s fault. It’s the owner completely.”
