WASHINGTON — Today’s Most D.C. Thing comes courtesy of a Tweet from Tommy McFly with a picture of a heavily-taped sign on a tree telling people to pick up after their dogs with the caption “Is this a real [Dog face emoji] [Pile of poo emoji] sign ... like from the D.C. Govt?.”
As you can see from the image, the sign threatens fines between $150 and $2,000. Maybe the fine is determined how big and how smelly your dog’s poop is. A safe way to never find out is to scoop up after your dog after he or she goes number 2.
The D.C. Department of Energy and Environment’s website encourages residents worried about pet waste to “Post a sign. Buy, make your own, or print the sign at the bottom of this web page. The District does not post signs by request.”
That means technically this is indeed a real D.C. Government sign. Hopefully a D.C. Government graphic designer is not responsible for it. If so, he or she phoned this one in. Yet the sign’s clip art message is loud and clear.
It is the Most D.C. Thing because there are a lot of responsible dog owners in D.C. However, it only takes a few lazy ones to ruin someone’s sneakers by leaving their pets’ smelly land mines all over the city. It’s also the Most D.C. Thing because we are a city full of abstract and confusing signs as well as abstract and confusing laws about signs. Ask anyone who has ever parked downtown. They’ll tell you that I’m right.