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This law’s bark is worse than its bite.
Department of Sanitation officials are going easy on New Yorkers who neglect to scoop up after their dogs, according to new figures obtained by The Post.
The agency has slacked off in the number of tickets issued to dog-walkers who fail to clean up after their pets, prompting one city lawmaker to bark in protest.
City Councilman James Vacca (D-Bronx) — usually a critic of Mayor Bloomberg’s zealous ticket agents — fired off a letter to Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty yesterday demanding he put his staff on a shorter leash when it comes to enforcing the law.
“This issue has absolutely hit the fan,” Vacca wrote. “I get complaints on a regular basis about sidewalks and park areas that have become completely impassable because of dog waste.”
During fiscal year 2011, which ends June 30, Sanitation Department enforcement agents have issued only 250 violations of the law that requires dog owners to clean up after their pets — that’s a little more than half of the 510 tickets written in fiscal year 2010.
But the enforcement record has really gone into a tailspin compared with 2008, when 909 tickets were issued. City officials claim that the drop is due to better compliance with the law that followed a hike in the fine from $100 to $250 in November 2008.
Vacca wasn’t buying the argument. He urged Doherty to “set new targets” or “hire more agents,” and later explained that although the city is under a conditional hiring freeze, Bloomberg should beef up Sanitation’s 24-person Canine Unit because it generates revenue.
Sanitation spokesman Matthew Lipani said the pooper-scooper unit has other duties besides going after dog poop. The agents are also responsible for making sure dogs are on leashes when in public, for example.
Lipani pointedly did not answer questions about whether the Canine Unit has been scaled down in recent years.
Vacca said his residents are furious about the issue, though the city’s 311 hotline said complaints about dog waste are down this fiscal year to 3,848 compared to 4,122 at this time last year.
“It’s impossible to walk down any street without feeling like you’re going through an obstacle course trying to avoid the dog poop,” one Bronx resident, Carmen Marrero, wrote in an e-mail to Vacca’s office.