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Los Angeles May Soon Get Its Very Own Off-Leash Dog Beach
Outer Cabrillo Beach (Photo by carlfbagge via the Creative Commons)
L.A. City Councilmember Joe Buscaino is moving forward with his quest to establish Los Angeles' first off-leash dog-friendly beach, reports the Daily Breeze.
A previous attempt to declare the city controlled inner Cabrillo Beach, in San Pedro, as L.A.'s first official off-leash dog-friendly beach failed last year after dissenters protested heavily about pollution concerns. But Buscaino is attempting the process again, instead focusing on Cabrillo's outer beach as a sanctioned space for pooches and their humans to take some long walks leash-free.
Right now, there is exactly one off-leash dog-friendly beach in all of Los Angeles County. Rosie's Beach, in Long Beach, allows dogs to roam around on the beach without leashes. Other beaches throughout Los Angeles county allow dogs to visit, but require dogs to be leashed at all times.
Buscaino, however, isn't alone in his attempts to get Angelenos and their dogs to run free in the sand. A proposed voter initiative currently circulating around for signatures to put a off-leash dog beach measure on the ballot this November, also according to the Daily Breeze. The initiative, launched by Jeff Douek, the co-owner of the WeHo Bistro in West Hollywood, would require L.A. County to work with cities and establish three to five off-leash dog beaches along L.A. County coastline.
The dog beaches under Douek's initiative would be 'not narrower' than a quarter-mile wide nor more than 10 miles away from the next off-leash beach.
"I'm a person who enjoys going to the beach with my dog," Douek said to the Daily Breeze. "A county ballot initiative is an extremely high hurdle, but there's been so much support for the idea."
Douek says he's received about 100,000 signatures supporting his measure, not too far away from the 146,000 needed to qualify for placement on the November ballot. Check out the initiative's website for more information on how to sign.
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