Dogs on the Square?

UPDATE -

It turns out, city officials have been reviewing this policy already. That's because of the growing downtown population, spokeswoman Meg Olberding says, and the possibility that those people have dogs and would like to walk them around downtown, including on the square.

"People feel very strongly on both sides of the issue," she says.

The policy dates back to 1975.

City Manager Milton Dohoney might not know it yet, but some dog lovers are coming for him.

A group promoting last weekend's Opera Dogs event learned something they don't think is right: that dogs aren't allowed on Fountain Square. When organizer Lydia Stec asked 3CDC - the Center City Development Corp., which operates the square - about the rule, Bill Donabedian referred her to Dohoney.


The rule is posted on http://www.myfountainsquare.com/. But Stec, who showed up on the square Saturday with her Rhodesian ridgeback Juju, who was dressed in a tuxedo, didn't know about it. So only Juju and Buster, a dressed-up pug, were allowed on the square - because they were part of an event there. The other six or seven non-costumed dogs and their owners who'd come to support the Opera Dogs had to stand along Vine Street, Stec said.


"It was the strangest thing," she said today. "It was unbelievable."


She and others are questioning the wisdom of the policy. They think a lot of the young professionals city officials would like to attract to downtown living will have dogs.


Stec's asking anyone who agrees with her to lodge a complaint through http://www.myfountainsquare.com/.