For years, Langley City resident Lloyd Paulson has been cleaning up litter on the streets and parks near his home, next to Linwood Park at 201 A Street and Michaud Crescent.
The retired government manager has been going out nearly every day and spending anywhere between 30 minutes to a couple of hours hunting for trash with a “grabber” and a bright yellow trash bag.
Paulson told the Times he started his unpaid cleanup during an early morning walk one day about six years ago, when he noticed some litter on the ground and picked it up.
“I thought, as long as I was in the neighbourhood, I might as well do it,” Paulson said.
Then, Paulson got a dog, and things became complicated.
The City has a bylaw the requires dogs to be leashed unless they are in an off-leash area. But Paulson said he couldn’t keep Tikka leashed, and pick up trash and carry a bag at the same time.
“I’ve only got two hands.”
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After a recent encounter with a Langley City bylaw officer over failing to leash Tikka, his 11-year-old poodle cross, Paulson said he decided to stop picking up litter.
“The guy gave me a warning,” Paulson said.
Paulson was told that he could be fined $100 each time he took Tikka out without a leash.
“The next day, he was waiting for me to come out with the dog (from my townhouse and) he said, ‘you’ve had your warning.’
“I said, ‘I know I’ve had the warning. I’ve also explained to you that I can’t leash her and pick litter and whatever at the same time. So it’s either one or the other.’”
Paulson said the bylaw officer suggested he could leave Tikka at home and go pick litter without her.
“I said, if that’s the choice, I’ve also got another choice, and that is, you can pick the litter. The City can pick the litter.”
Paulson admits he was “sharp” with the bylaw officer, something he regrets, and he concedes that he was in the wrong as far as the City dog leash regulations are concerned.
“To be perfectly honest, I was flouting the law with not having her on the leash (but) it was just not practical to have her on the leash and pick litter and carry the litter,” he said.
“I understand their position, as much as it annoyed me. They (the City) can’t turn a blind eye to me just because I’ve been doing all this work in the park.”
He said Tikka was a “very friendly little dog” who has never shown aggression toward people and other dogs, but has been known to chase squirrels.
“She’s very gentle, she’s very loving, she’s never attacked a dog in her life:” Paulson said.
But there have been a few incidents where other dogs have been aggressive with Tikka, he said.
“Sometimes they (other dogs) would bark and get angry.”
He has enjoyed keeping his neighborhood tidy, and is sad to be stopping.
“I really felt badly about making that decision,” Paulson said.
“It’s very disappointing, you know. I thought I had bought some political capital with all the work I had done for the City, for the neighbourhood.”
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Langley City bylaws manager Dave Selvage said that while the City “genuinely appreciates” what Paulson has been doing in picking up litter, the municipality simply can’t start making exceptions to the rule that requires dogs in Langley City to be leashed unless they are in an off-leash park.
“Case-by-case wouldn’t make sense,” Selvage told the Times.
“We don’t know what dogs are aggressive and what dogs are not.”
Even a gentle dog can provoke an aggressive dog, Selvage noted.
“It’s the unpredictability around it (that requires enforcement across-the-board).”
Selvage said, as a general rule, bylaw officers don’t rush to write tickets for breaking the leash requirement, but will try to get people to follow the rules without resorting to a fine.
“We’re looking for compliance, we’re not looking to penalize people,” Selvage said.
“It’s really public education.”
dan.ferguson@langleytimes.com
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