It’s been a month since Community Board 3 voted to shut down Lower East Side resident Calvin Knight’s “unofficial dog run” after noise complaints, but dogs continue to dominate the lot on Stanton St., just east of Pitt St. Garrett Rosso, a local dog advocate who manages the Tompkins Square Dog Run, said he had heard that the Parks Department had chosen to side with Knight. “Parks said to leave it,” Rosso reported. “The guys at Parks say they don’t see any point in shutting it down.” According to Parks spokesperson Cristina DeLuca, the department has not determined yet what to do with the space, but a dog run is among the options. “We’re still working with the community board and the dog run groups to determine if we’re continuing the dog run,” she said. Susan Stetzer, district manager of C.B. 3 and an opponent of the dog run, wrote in an e-mail that the board would not endorse that plan, given that “it is noisier than ever at night, and there are more dogfight complaints. We asked Parks to either remove the gate or install higher fencing — or do what is necessary so that people living nearby will not suffer from qualify of life complaints that have actually increased since the community board vote,” she wrote. A discussion of alternate uses for the lot will be on the board’s September agenda.
