More than 200 people crowded into a Loop meeting to sound off about the Chicago Park District's decision to ban dogs from the recently opened Maggie Daley Park.
The meeting was called by the Grant Park Conservancy, which supports the ban despite opposition from many residents who live at the edge of the park.
"I think one of the things is there would be a lot of destruction of landscaping," Bob O'Neill, president of the group, told the meeting at the Maggie Daley Park Fieldhouse at 337 E. Randolph St. "And the other issue is, I think, families with younger children would be intimidated.
"So the idea is, this is a park for children and having a lot of dogs in the park would intimidate children. It's not necessarily a good mix," he said.
A woman in the audience rose to agree, saying she has seen dogs that "scare the hell out of little children."
Others cited statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the large number of children who are victims of dog bites.
But opponents of the ban, many of them residents of high-rises near the park, said dogs and people could peacefully co-exist in the park if current regulations on leashes and cleaning up after pets were enforced.
One man complained that the ban makes the park more welcome to tourists than residents.
The Park District declined to lift the ban during a meeting last month, just before the ice skating ribbon opened in the $60 million Maggie Daley Park.
Park District CEO Mike Kelly said the ban was a "prudent" but "tough" decision.
"Despite what people want - and all these people are good people, they all have the best interest at heart - but people do let their dogs off leash in Chicago. That is a fact. They do it in parks we have now where there's dog-friendly areas," he said after a park board meeting.
The park district has pointed out there are two dog parks nearby at Lake Shore East and South Grant Park, and that dogs are not allowed on playgrounds. Maggie Daley Park has a three-acre play garden area.
Roughly 95 percent of the city's 585 parks are accessible for dogs, Kelly noted.
