Dog Bites Dumpsters - News Briefs

When a neighbor was assaulted on his front lawn by a drunken bar patron and needed nine stitches, Web designer Avi Adelman took matters to the Web. His site, Barkingdogs.org, lets residents of Lower Greenville (a Dallas neighborhood) report city-code violations and other incidents that stem from a strip of 50 restaurants and clubs in their neighborhood.

The complaints, even of the smallest violations ("5-foot weeds and grass, trash around and behind dumpsters") are posted for all to see. At launch, the site's tone was set with a vote for the ugliest dumpster in Lower Greenville. Adelman's latest expose: pictures of people caught urinating in parking lots.

Caroline Nosworthy, a Dallas official who steers such complaints to the proper city department, says Adelman's site has helped reduce the number of violations but she has mixed feelings: "The Web site gets the information out there. But [Adelman] often won't change the site to show that we have investigated a problem. It's made people more skeptical about what the city is doing."

While sites are facing legal action from anonymous comments posted on message boards, Adelman's approach raises questions about due process. Are his subjects guilty until proven innocent? Adelman says he filters complaints; if in doubt, he walks to the location to verify it.

Since Adelman set Barkingdogs loose, 1,000 people have subscribed to his newsletter. "Every neighborhood needs a barking dog," he says.

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