Thousands of paw prints stamp Playa de Long Beach each day as dogs of all breeds, shapes and sizes mark that portion of the beach their territory.
Although locals and Yelp reviewers coin the bank as “dog friendly,” hounds are still restricted to certain rules.
In 2014, Long Beach residents voted to build a $6 million pedestrian path next to the bike path with oil fund tax dollars. The 11-foot-wide path began construction in late October and has been finished, but under Long Beach municipal order 6.16.010, dogs on leashes and their owners are forbidden to use the multi-use pathway.
To combat that order, Long Beach resident Jim Corbett created a petition titled “Dogs OK on Long Beach Pedestrian Path.”
Corbett explained that he recognizes that all dog-owners may not be responsible for their dogs, but it doesn’t change the fact that “dog owners are citizens and taxpayers too.”
The Long Beach City Council had no comment on the petition.
Corbett’s proposal calls for the allowance of owners and their on-leashed dogs to use the newly constructed pedestrian path just like they can in Huntington Beach, Seal Beach and other beach cities.
He said that he believes that with these newly installed pedestrian paths, most dog owners aren’t aware of the possible citations that can arise due to the lack of obvious signs.
“When the ped-path was finished between 54th Place and Granada Street, I was stopped by a lifeguard and he said it was illegal to walk our dogs on the path,” Corbett said. “So I wrote to 3rd District Councilwoman Suzie Price and she said it was a controversial issue.”
Located near the Belmont Pier, Rosie’s Dog Beach was named and inspired after the late English bulldog of local resident and community leader, Justin Rudd. It has been sectioned off by the city so various mutts from all over California and other states can freely frolic at the beach.
But it wasn’t always like this.
After seeing the seldom amount of off-leash dog beaches in Los Angeles County, Rudd said that he decided to take matters into his own hands, and slowly but surely got Long Beach’s city council to approve a permanent “dog beach zone.” Corbett hopes that the ped-path can garner the same success.
“Although I do want to walk my dog on the beach, I understand why they would only allow dogs in certain areas,” said Agnes Lui, a senior business major at California State University Long Beach. “[My only] wish is that there are more dog-allowed areas to help disperse the crowd of pet owners.”
Because many dog owners appreciate the continuing success and longevity of the dog beach, some owners feel that expansion and being able to showcase the beach as “dog-friendly” plays a critical role in the image of the beach.
“People tend to be nice and the dogs are very well behaved,” Edwin Ramirez, a junior computer science major at CSULB, said. “If anything, we should allocate [the perimeters] more.”
Corbett noted that this newly constructed path would be beneficial to dog owners and dogs alike.
“The mayor is constantly saying [how] we want to bring visitors to Long Beach,” Corbett said. “[The taxpayers] spent $6 million for a ped-path. Here is a way. Otherwise, they’ll drive to Huntington or Seal Beach.”
For dog owners like Topher Smith, who has only lived in Long Beach for one year, petitions like Corbett’s help newcomers to the city as well as unifying the community as a whole.
“I think it’s important [to have petitions] like this,” Smith said. “As a dog owner, I should be able to help decide the rules for other dog owners instead of somebody who doesn’t own a dog and makes decisions for the rest of us.”