NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & SportsNashville's Downtown Growth Brings Pet Droppings

Nashville's Downtown Growth Brings Pet Droppings

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- As downtown Nashville increasingly becomes a residential neighborhood, more pets are causing sanitation problems.

Not cleaning up after a pet is a fineable offense, but people who live and work downtown complain it's not being enforced.

Pastor Ken Locke of Downtown Presbyterian Church said downtown residents don't play by urban center rules and he often finds dog excrement in the church's alley.

The Metro Council passed a "pooper scooper law" in 2004, but the only agency that can enforce it is the Metro Police Department.

It hasn't written any tickets to dog owners for what could be a $50 fine.

An explosion of high-rise condominium towers and renovations of lofts above riverfront businesses has brought more people to live downtown.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)