SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The debate over whether dogs should be allowed at Jackson Park in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood is reaching a fever pitch.
"It's a beautiful field. We see it not being used so when there's no kids or no events going on we bring our dogs here," said Shevy Karvasi, who was walking his dog at the park Thursday evening.
San Francisco Recreation and Parks is making it clear with additional signs, that dogs are not allowed on the Jackson Park athletic fields, but for some dog owners, it's just too tempting.
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"I just don't see any harm in doing it," said Matthew Chen, who was at the park with his dog.
But people using the park's athletic fields say the pups are a problem.
"When we are running in fields we sometimes step in poop," said Eduardo Sanchez, who plays softball at the park. "People don't pick up after the dogs and sometimes get into a weird situation where we have to clean it up ourselves."
"The only thing we run into problems with is sometimes they leave the dog poop, owners don't pick up after themselves," added his teammate Stephan Kyle.
The city's encouraging dog walkers to walk over to nearby dog parks, but people say it's too inconvenient.
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"It's onerous to have to walk 10, 20, 30 minutes down the road or drive, that's an expense and we should have access to our park," said Paul Sears, who has collected nearly a thousand signatures petitioning the city to create a space for dogs, calling the current rule out of date.
"When it was written this neighborhood was very different, it was a lot of warehouses," Sears said. "Now you have all these multifamily buildings that are dog-friendly with hundreds and hundreds of dog owners here."
Recreation and Parks says there are plans in the works to create a dog park in the coming years, but in the meantime the debate continues.
"The solution is people need to follow the rules. You can see the signs over there, dogs are not allowed here, but they keep doing it," said Sanchez.
