Help Me Howard: Barking Dogs

WSVN--Its a city known for hustle bustle...Concrete and construction...But Hialeah has its nice quiet side as well.

Jack Fadel: "Real lovely section...very lovely section...the oldest one in Hialeah."

Of course Jack wouldn't be on help me howard unless there was an 'except' in his neighborhood..

Jack Fadel: "Except we have problems with the neighbors unfortunately."

The neighbors dogs to be exact...

Jack Fadel: "The wind blows north they bark...the wind blows south they bark...they see an airplane they bark."

Not just the dogs behind Jack's house...The dogs to the left and right as well...

Jack Fadel: "It drives you crazy..it really drives you insane."

Three homes...Eight dogs...And Jack says...Eight gazzilion headaches...

Jack Fadel: "We had the chain link fence (barking) so...now which one is that barking...its picking up the pace now..he has been barking for the past month...every day...day and night...every day."

And you wont believe how many times over the last five years Hialeah police have been called about these barking dogs...

Jack Fadel: "A few hundred...how many...a few hundred...over two hundred...about barking dogs."

Jack is not exaggerating...Look at list of times police were called about the barking dogs...Hundreds of times...In morning noon and of course the middle of the night...

Jack Fadel: "heres one for...three calls in one night."

Wth the constant barking Jack cant enjoy his back yard...And some nights...Forget about sleeping....

Jack Fadel: "Sometimes I have an hours sleep--sometimes no sleep."

The worst part...No-one in Hialeah seems to have the power to shut up the dogs....

Jack Fadel: "I called the police...I went to code enforcement...the code enforcement told me the police...I called the police they sent me back to code enforcement."

The reason Jack feels he is going in circles...Jack was told Hialeah has a noise ordinance...But no penalty if you ignore it.

Jack Fadel: "Theres no law that tells you ..we gonna fine you 100 dollars 200 dollars five hundred dollars...one day in jail five days in jail...there no law."

Which has left Jack howling for one simple thing.

Jack Fadel: "I want peace."

But is he legally entitled to peace from the barking dogs..to find out he called help me howard...

Howard Finkelstein: "This is the perfect example of a bureaucratic nightmare...Hialeah feels their ordinance does not offer a penalty for a barking dog..I believe a seperate ordinance..does...and if Hialeah disagrees...the city does has the power to use the county ordinance which makes repeated barking a crime."

And just like Jack we saw how difficult it is to get the noise ordinance enforced in hialeah...When we spoke to police they told us since its not a crime they can only forward the barking dog complaint to code enforcement...Code enforcement told us under their compliance regulations...Disturbing the peace is a police issue and not a code enforcement issue...Howard says the solution is simple...

Howard Finkelstein: "Jack has done everything a taxpayer should do. The problem is a lack of enforcement..and the city manager --code enforcment and police need to get together and enforce the laws on the books...or if they dont like those laws...pass a law to help out the people of Hialeah."

Help out the people like Jack...Who has gotten a little cynical about the city he loves.

Jack Fadel: "So in Hialeah dogs can do whatever they want?"

Patrick Fraser: "Apparently yes."

Well some good news for Jack...The neighbor with four barking dogs...Moved out after we interviewed Jack..of course that still leaves two more neighbors with barking dogs---and howard says there is no excuse...Whether by Hialeah or Miami Dade county law the city needs to enforce the noise ordinance. Got a pet peeve you want to make a little noise about...Dont sit around howling......contact us...We wont growl snap and bark...Just offer a nice quiet solution...

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: helpmehoward@wsvn.com

DADE: 305-953-WSVN
BROWARD: 954-761-WSVN