Dog walkers: Please clean up your dog litter!

There are lovely footpaths that wind through some of the condo communities in Carmel Valley. You could start walking at Valley Centre Drive and go all the way to the community center on Townsgate.

There was a time in the recent past when the footpaths were free of dog droppings. Most people were responsible enough and sufficiently civic minded to carry their little plastic bags and pick up after their dog’s leavings. Now this is seldom done.

I agree with Patti Passov (letter to the editor, July 25 issue of this newspaper), that it is mostly young people who violate this law and its related lack of concern for other people who don’t enjoy being visually assailed by the constant sight of so much dog litter. Unfortunately, the law is unenforceable and the attitude of the dog walker seems to be, “I don’t care.”

Putting myself in the shoes of dog walkers, they might be thinking, “Where can I dump this stuff?”, and so as we walk the pathways or the streets, we see either little bags of the stuff all along the sides of the street or path or loose dog litter laying around. And to those of you who drop their bags of dog poop on the street, whom do you expect to clean up after you?

Whenever I see a dog walker picking up their dog[‘s deposit, I go out of my way to say, “Thank you for picking up.” I wish your paper could undertake a continuing crusade against this dirty problem. Unfortunately, many young people seldom read and most likely never read [newspapers] so that hopefully the message could resonate with the parents.

I wish I could end this letter with some hope and a suggested solution to the problem but I fear that since our social norms are being eroded by this next generation and, since there is no law enforcement, we are stuck with dog litter on our streets and foot paths.

Harry Goldenberg