We, the undersigned, request that the Larry O’Connell ballfield at Newton Avenue and Chebucto Road, which in the Spring of 2023 was protected with a chain-link fence, should have the four gates in the fence surrounding the ballfield itself (not the whole park) fitted with sturdy locks during the baseball season.  We also request that similar locks be fitted again to the chain-link fence surrounding the Conrose Park ballfield (not the whole park) during the baseball season, as they were in 2022 and 2023.  This measure will protect children from injury and fear.

1.  The problem

• As things stand, the Larry O ballfield combines the functions of baseball field and off-leash dog park. So too does the Conrose Park ballfield to some degree.
• Signs posted at the Larry O park entrances say that, between 1 June and 1 November, off-leash dogs can only enter before 8:00am and then must be “under owner’s control.”  The reality is, however, that off-leash dogs are there at all hours and the regulation itself is unenforceable.  Likewise, signs at the Conrose Park ballfield forbid dogs, yet dog paw prints are still often found on the infield dirt, showing that some dog owners defy the bylaw.  At Larry O in particular, there is a serious problem with dog owners not picking up after their dogs.
• Dog owners at Larry O who let their dogs off leash rarely control their dogs and usually do not even watch them.
• When reminded about the regulation, many dog owners at Larry O who let their dogs off leash simply refuse to comply with it, stubbornly keeping their dogs off-leash and remaining on the playing area — sometimes even during practice or before games or other baseball events.

2.  The danger

Allowing dogs off-leash on a ballfield seriously damages the ballfield, in two ways:

A.  It leaves huge numbers of paw prints in the sandy infield.  The result is a moonscape of divots and tiny mounds that make every ground ball dangerous, because the player fielding it can’t predict the last bounce: it can easily hit the fielder in the face, and some of our players (and opponents) hit the ball very hard.  Unless the infield is kept free of paw-prints, therefore, the children’s safety while fielding grounders is seriously endangered.

B.  The dogs dig holes in the outfield.  While their owners are having a nice chat, after the sociable manner of dog owners, many dogs love nothing more than to dig holes in the ground, i.e. in the outfield.  This is especially a problem at Larry O.  These holes, which the later growth of the grass tends to hide, can be quite deep, but even a shallow hole poses a serious risk to outfielders trying to catch fly balls.  While tracking a fly ball in the air, the outfielder is looking up at the ball, not down at the grass, and a step in a dog hole could very well result in a child’s spraining or breaking an ankle.

Furthermore, we must not forget that some kids are afraid of big dogs. When dogs intrude on the ballfield, before games or during practice, this can be an alarming experience for kids who are afraid of them, not least because some of the dogs are as big relative to small kids as horses are relative to adults.  Dog owners may know that Rover is a big friendly dog with a heart of gold, but the kids don’t and should not be asked to take this on trust.

3.  The solution

• Unfortunately, asking nicely does not work (at least not with many dog owners at Larry O), and sporadic enforcement of the existing rule evidently does not work, so we strongly feel the only way to protect Larry O and Conrose Park ballfields, and with them the young players’ safety, is to lock the four gates on the existing chain-link fences during the season (at the two dugouts and in right field and left field at Larry O; on either side of the dugouts at Conrose), making the key available to those organisations and members of the public who have contracts to rent the field from HRM.
• Locking the fence will not prevent neighbourhood children from using the ballfield, as some like to do, since they are agile and perfectly capable of climbing chain-link fences, as they showed at the Conrose ballfield in 2022 and 2023 while locks were still up on the gates.  The locks are a barrier to dogs, not to children.
• There is ample space elsewhere in both parks, i.e. outside the ballfields themselves, for dogs to play fetch, and a separate area at each park could be fenced in for these dogs if necessary, or a nearby grassy space (e.g. across Chebucto Road from Larry O) could be repurposed for dogs.
• We request that the locks used at both parks be thick padlocks, as there are a number of lawless dog owners at Larry O (a minority, of course) who are undoubtedly prepared to damage public property by cutting weak padlocks.  Locks have been removed at Conrose Park by nameless vandals in this manner, evidently because the locks were not thick enough.

As concerned parents and concerned citizens, we sincerely hope Halifax Regional Municipality will take the appropriate action and install sturdy locks to all gates in these ballfield fences.

This petition is also being circulated in physical form.