Courtney
01-24-2007, 03:42 PM
Dallas council approves doggie dining
01:23 PM CST on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
Go dine out with Sparky and celebrate: Dallas will soon allow dogs to join their owners on restaurants’ outdoor patios.
Following an 8-5 vote Wednesday afternoon by the Dallas City Council, city food establishments may now apply for a local variance to current state laws that prohibit animals on restaurant premises.
“This is a terrific way to improve the quality of life and respond to greater density in our city,” said council member Angela Hunt, who proposed the ordinance change last year in response to constituents' requests.
“Animals are their children. I can’t blame anyone” for wanting to dine with their pets, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia said. “You have a choice. You don’t have to be there. The standards are clear in this ordinance. More than anything, it’s an option for our businesses here.”
But the council didn’t arrive at its decision without debate.
“I love dogs. I don’t know if they belong in restaurants,” council member Mitchell Rasansky said. “We don’t have the staff to check this. We don’t know if the restaurants are going to clean up every 30 minutes. I don’t want to go to a restaurant and see a dog going to the bathroom there.”
Council member Bill Blaydes, noting that he owns a large dog, wondered aloud, “I can’t wait to see how this works.”
The council, he said, is “effectively creating dog parks all over Dallas. We’re going to have problems with what we are doing. Animals are animals. Something happens that bothers them, they’re going to react.”
The council’s decision does not apply to cats or other house pets, said Karen Rayzer, director of Dallas’ Environmental and Health Services Department. Meanwhile, the city doesn’t yet have an estimate of how many restaurants will apply for dogs-on-patio permits, which the Environmental and Health Services Department will grant.
If dogs on patios begin causing problems, city staff will bring the issues to a council committee for review, Ms. Rayzer said.
According to Dallas' ordinance, restaurants allowed to welcome dogs onto their patios must:
· Provide a separate entrance for outdoor patio
· Post signs that they are a “dog-friendly” restaurant
· Install curtains separating inside of a restaurant from its patio
· Prohibit dogs from going inside the restaurant and from sitting or standing on outdoor tables or chairs
· Prevent dogs from touching restaurant serving staff
That final item may prove problematic, Mayor Laura Miller said, since it’ll be difficult to prevent dogs from jumping on waiters or waitresses.
“If you read these things literally, they are not enforceable. It’s unworkable and silly,” Ms. Miller said. “There are 50,000 things that will go wrong.”
Said Ms. Hunt: “It’s funny that we’re overexaggerating … this is going to be a terrific change. This isn’t France. We’re just creating an exception.”
Dr. Garcia, Ms. Hunt and council members Gary Griffith, Pauline Medrano, Linda Koop, Steve Salazar, Ron Natinsky and Ed Oakley voted to approve the ordinance.
Ms. Miller, Mr. Rasansky, Mr. Blaydes and council members Leo Chaney and Maxine Thornton-Reese voted against it.
Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and council member James Fantroy were absent when the vote was taken.
E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com
01:23 PM CST on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
By DAVE LEVINTHAL / The Dallas Morning News
Go dine out with Sparky and celebrate: Dallas will soon allow dogs to join their owners on restaurants’ outdoor patios.
Following an 8-5 vote Wednesday afternoon by the Dallas City Council, city food establishments may now apply for a local variance to current state laws that prohibit animals on restaurant premises.
“This is a terrific way to improve the quality of life and respond to greater density in our city,” said council member Angela Hunt, who proposed the ordinance change last year in response to constituents' requests.
“Animals are their children. I can’t blame anyone” for wanting to dine with their pets, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia said. “You have a choice. You don’t have to be there. The standards are clear in this ordinance. More than anything, it’s an option for our businesses here.”
But the council didn’t arrive at its decision without debate.
“I love dogs. I don’t know if they belong in restaurants,” council member Mitchell Rasansky said. “We don’t have the staff to check this. We don’t know if the restaurants are going to clean up every 30 minutes. I don’t want to go to a restaurant and see a dog going to the bathroom there.”
Council member Bill Blaydes, noting that he owns a large dog, wondered aloud, “I can’t wait to see how this works.”
The council, he said, is “effectively creating dog parks all over Dallas. We’re going to have problems with what we are doing. Animals are animals. Something happens that bothers them, they’re going to react.”
The council’s decision does not apply to cats or other house pets, said Karen Rayzer, director of Dallas’ Environmental and Health Services Department. Meanwhile, the city doesn’t yet have an estimate of how many restaurants will apply for dogs-on-patio permits, which the Environmental and Health Services Department will grant.
If dogs on patios begin causing problems, city staff will bring the issues to a council committee for review, Ms. Rayzer said.
According to Dallas' ordinance, restaurants allowed to welcome dogs onto their patios must:
· Provide a separate entrance for outdoor patio
· Post signs that they are a “dog-friendly” restaurant
· Install curtains separating inside of a restaurant from its patio
· Prohibit dogs from going inside the restaurant and from sitting or standing on outdoor tables or chairs
· Prevent dogs from touching restaurant serving staff
That final item may prove problematic, Mayor Laura Miller said, since it’ll be difficult to prevent dogs from jumping on waiters or waitresses.
“If you read these things literally, they are not enforceable. It’s unworkable and silly,” Ms. Miller said. “There are 50,000 things that will go wrong.”
Said Ms. Hunt: “It’s funny that we’re overexaggerating … this is going to be a terrific change. This isn’t France. We’re just creating an exception.”
Dr. Garcia, Ms. Hunt and council members Gary Griffith, Pauline Medrano, Linda Koop, Steve Salazar, Ron Natinsky and Ed Oakley voted to approve the ordinance.
Ms. Miller, Mr. Rasansky, Mr. Blaydes and council members Leo Chaney and Maxine Thornton-Reese voted against it.
Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and council member James Fantroy were absent when the vote was taken.
E-mail dlevinthal@dallasnews.com