Queens Quickly: Dogtopia and New Cafe, Composting.................... 4

QUEENS QUICKLY

Dogtopia opens in Long Island City

By Alicia Venter aventer@queensledger.com

Dog daycare and spa Dogtopia has established its first location in Long Island City, franchised by two animal lovers who decided to leave their office jobs to find work that they were passionate about.

Sheena Mehta and Nancy Guo, both in their 30s, opened their first location in Long Island City on Sept. 6 at 5-49 49th Ave. When Mehta spoke with the Ledger on Oct. 17, she and her partner were opening their second location in Clinton Hill.

Choosing Long Island City was purposeful, as Guo had lived there for a number of years and “saw the city really transform.” Given her knowledge of the community, It just made sense, Mehta explained, for them to open their first location in Long Island City.

“Being close to the water made us realize that there’s a huge dog community,” Mehta said. “It just made the perfect first location for us to dive right in.”

Providing dog care in New York City does not come without its challenges, Mehta explained. Animals need open space, which can prove difficult in the dense city. Their Long Island City location, she shared, has 5,000 square feet for “the dogs to just run around.”

Though there is certainly a great amount of fun that can be had in caring for the animals — such as an employee dressing up as a hot dog for “National Hot Dog Day” last week — the priority for Mehta and Guo is that the animals are safe.

As such, each “coach” that works for them must go through 30 to 40 hours of training in order to be in the room with the dogs.

“It’s so they understand when a dog is in distress, when two dogs don’t get along, how to break up a scuffle and how to deal with dogs with severe separation anxiety,” Mehta said. “We are seeing a lot of pandemic pups that have never been left alone. They just don’t know how to cope with that. Daycare is a great way to start socializing them.”

For full transparency between customer and daycare, owners can watch their animals at any time through a webcam. The first step when a customer puts their animal into daycare at

Dogtopia is to go through “a meet-and-greet.” The dog undergoes an evaluation to see how they interact with the staff and other dogs. Once that is complete, the owner has access to the app on their phone to see their animal is in a safe environment. “We want to make sure that you are completely comfortable before leaving the most precious thing to most people in our care,” Mehta said. “Transparency is what we strive for above all.” One thing an owner will never see, Mehta said, is their animal being disciplined. There are correction tactics, but the tactics are nothing harsh, she described. Mehta and Guo both decided they wanted to become owners of a Dogtopia during the pandemic. “We were both working jobs in finance, sitting behind a desk, and it was the time that everyone, it seemed, was getting a dog,” Mehta said. “We said maybe this is the point at which we leave our corporate jobs and do something that we’re actually very passionate about.” That was two years ago. Now, Mehta and Guo can proudly boast that they followed their passions, and have two daycare centers to take care of and devote their time to the animals that they love. To check out LIC’s Dogtopia, visit their Instagram page @dogtopiaoflic. They can be reached at lic@dogtopia.com and 917-277-4020. Visit the Dogtopia corporate website at www.dogtopia.com.

Take out the papers and the trash!

By Billy Wood news@queensledger.com

At the beginning of this month, the Department of Sanitation kicked off the curbside composting program for all of Queens County, with pick-ups scheduled on recycling days.

Compost pertains to items such as food scraps and leaves that are thrown out, but can be put in soil to help plants grow.

Therefore, it’s better for the environment because it makes for less waste in landfills and reduces the release of methane into the air.

“One-third of what New York residents throw out is compostable,” said Allie Gumas, senior manager of drop off and community composting at the Department of Sanitation.

“If you want to throw in your meat, diary, and other food scraps we will take that,” said Gumas. “You are giving it to us already, it is just a matter of it getting composted or not.”

As things continue to return to how they once were pre-COVID, Gumas and others are handing out fliers and mailers to help spread the word. They want everyone to know about the composting program.

“For now, we are still supplying free brown bins to the buildings that want to start participating,” she said. “It is like when recycling was first rolled out in the late ‘80s early ‘90s because they were giving out recycling bins.”

Curbside composting is not something new to the city. It began in Staten Island in 2013. Eventually, some neighborhoods in Queens did have compost service, but due to the pandemic, the funding had to be reallocated and composting was halted.

“It is important that we do organic recycling,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of Queens Community Board 5. “It is 30 percent of the waste stream of NYC.”

One of the biggest expenses for the Department of Sanitation is the waste export. According to The Council of the City of New York, the budget for 2022 will be increased to $448.2 million.

“We need that composting. It will save the city a lot of money and even more important is that it is important for the environment,” Giordano said.

While it is still too early to get the data on the amount of homes that are making use of the curbside composting program, the department is hoping a high number of residents are participating.

The program will be on hiatus from the last week of December through March for winter preparation. During those months, they will look into the data to see how much yard and food waste they receive. Once they have more information they will then gauge how they should move forward with this relatively new program.

While there will be no pick-ups during those months, there will be drop-off locations throughout the city that will accept your compost.

For information about drop-off locations, please visit https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/ site/services/food-scraps-and-yard-waste-page/ nyc-food-scrap-drop-off-locations