SANTA CRUZ, Calif.- After more than three decades of keeping dogs away from downtown, the Santa Cruz city council voted to change that law Tuesday night.
The council voted 4-2 to lift the ban to allow pets to roam the streets with their owners along Pacific Avenue. Many business owners pushed for the ban to be overturned.
One dog friendly website, www.dogfriendly.com, rallied for the city to change the law, stating, "as one of only a handful of cities with such an ordinance the time has come to repeal this law. With arguably the most dog-friendly city in America, Carmel, less than a 1 hour drive from Santa Cruz, this law has been a money loser and serves no useful purpose."
According to councilman Tony Madrigal, a final reading of the ordinance will take place July 26 and the new law will go into effect 30 days after.
During a three month trial period, owners could bring their dogs downtown during daylight hours. Other restrictions include dogs must be licensed, leashed and vaccinated. Owners must clean up after their dogs and they can't be used in panhandling. Unless council reverses the suspension before November 30, it'll become permanent.
Over the weekend, Central Coast News spoke to Janelle Martin, who lives in Santa Cruz with her two pups, Pierre and Dexter. She didn't agree with the city's no dogs allowed rule.
"We're between Carmel and Los Gatos," she said. "They're both dog friendly and dogs have pure hearts so where shouldn't a dog belong?"
In fact, Martin said she'd rather go to other towns to shop. "If my dogs aren't welcome I'm tending not to go. We take them to restaurants, to church. Everywhere."
"There's a lot of visitors that come to downtown Santa Cruz," explained Tony Madrigal, Santa Cruz City Council member. "They learn their dogs are not allowed in downtown Santa Cruz and they get upset and leave and hopefully we can find a way for them to stay more."
But not everyone wants dogs back in the city.
"No dogs," said Star Sevadar, who's against bringing dogs into town. "Dogs' poop stinks, dogs bark, growl, snarl and threaten people. That's not peace and love. Santa Cruz is supposed to be all about peace and love."
"Santa Cruz prides itself on being a welcoming town for everybody and allowing dogs downtown is definitely a part of that," said Madrigal.
