The City of Houston shut down a Yappy Hour last week, scheduled to take place at Beaver’s Ice House benefiting the Spay and Neuter Assistance Program and sponsored by several companies, including Houston PetTalk. The tax payers dollars were used to enforce a city ordinance that does not allow dogs on restaurant patios or inside restaurants. The story was picked up by the Houston Press in this blog post: http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/04/yappy_hour_beavers.php
This out of date ordinance has been challenged in other cities including Dallas and Austin, where the ordinance was overturned. Not without rules and provisions of course but the law was changed so that restaurants and their patrons could decide…the free market, rather than the City government. Of course not everyone wants to eat with a dog next to them, but not every restaurant would allow pups on the patio either.
More to come on this issue for sure!
I don’t understand how the city has this ordinance yet there are dog-friendly restaurants like Barnaby’s and Becks Prime. So are they breaking the law?
I realllllly don’t like or understand why this is happening!
Half the city loves pets and is a pet owner. Maybe if they have a rule about the size of the pet and whether they are well behaved or not so you don’t have a restaurant filled with great danes…
There needs to be a place where it’s allowed and it’s the human’s choice whether they want to eat there or not because the pets are welcome!
(it’s because probably because the pets aren’t ordering anything…)
but still… what is the rationale behind it? I am more offended by someone’s cigarette than a sweet little dog lying there
The city cries about not having funds for such programs…Then they shut it down?? How is it that some big headed person who wants to show power can do this? When people like you and I go to support these kind of very important functions to help this cause. I am sure that whoever decided to shut this function down is donating money…right???