A stern letter? That will be of no use. There is a girl at 1 central that lets her white dog go all over downtown in the pedestrian mall area. I complained, but now she seems to think it funny and does it even more. Good luck.

Thank you for your comments. I think because this a condo owned yard sub-divided by the 3 units that a public fix, i.e. city ordinance would not apply. I have discussed this with the dogs owner who believes that I have an overt issue with dog poop.I don't have an issue with the poop, inasmuch as I have an issue with laziness about picking it up. We do have a set of by-laws that express this, but after several attempts to tell the property owner to "read the by-laws" have gone unheard, I was hoping for a more civic template for expressing this, something more lawful. You can't make someone read a by-law if they can't pick up after their dog.
I think I will document. I keep a journal anyway.

As a trustee of a condo association, I understand your situation and pain.

We have a dual problem -- both association condo dog-owning residents AND other people in the neighborhood using our common area yard as a dog park and not picking up the poop. It's impossible to track down the neighborhood folks abusing our property, and the condo residents doing it tend to blame the neighborhood folks rather than fess up to their part of the problem.

The solution we're in the process of implementing is the creation of a clearly-defined dog relief area on the property and requiring our condo pet owners to always use it and clean up after. This makes it easier to keep tabs on where the poop is coming from.

A second part of this is we'll be putting up a hedge row and fencing to eliminate neighborhood dog owners from accessing our property. After we have these things in place, the only poop in our yard should be from our owners, not the general public - making it easier to track down and eliminate.

Keep in mind that condo trustees typically have methods at their disposal to enforce condo rules/regs -- fines for owners in violation as well as guidelines by which they can force removal of a pet from the property.

If you can document the poop and the actual pooping while its happening with phone-taken photos, you might have more luck getting the problem looked at. As a trustee, its hard to enforce something without evidence that illustrates the problem and its culprit(s).

Have you brought the problem to the management company or trustees?

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Wording from Salem's 2016 dog license document: "DISPOSAL OF ANIMAL WASTE: DUTY TO DISPOSE: It shall be the duty of each person who owns, possesses or controls a dog to remove and dispose of any feces left by his/her dog on public area or any private property of another. DUTY TO POSSESS MEANS OF REMOVAL: No person who owns, possesses or controls such dog shall appear with such dog on any private area of private property of another without the means of removal of any feces left by such dog. METHOD OF REMOVAL AND DISPOSAL: For the purpose of this regulation the means of removal shall be any tool, implementation or other device carried for the purpose of picking up and containing such feces, unexposed to said person or the public."

"Failure to comply with the provisions of Sec. 137 of Ch. 140 of General Laws and Chap. 8, Sec. 31 of Salem Ordinances is punishable by a $25.00 fine per day."

Take a photo and email it to the Animal Control Officer, dfamico@salempd.net.

If you read the language on your Salem Dog License document, it not only requires dog owners / walkers to pick up dog waste on public and private property - it also requires the dog handler to carry a means of picking up the waste. Fine is $25 / day. You can take a photo of the person not picking up and email it to the Animal Control Officer at dfamico@salempd.net.

I agree with Nancy Gilbery (very knowledgeable) It sounds like it could also be a reason to call the Helth Dept. on the condo management if not picked up by them even. They then can pursue that dog owner. You must get photos (date stamped) or video even better.

Sorry about the typos I meant to say that Nancy Gilberg is very knowledgeable etc etc

Thank you for all the comments, obviously poop is prevalent! We live in a 3 unit condo converted from a 2-family home. The yard is quite large and even though it is sub-divided between the units there are no barriers excluding the areas apart so the other units dogs have free run. One neighbor walks her dog, picks up and bags the poop but fails to toss the bags in the trash and allows them to collect in our parking area. The other unit neighbor allows his dog to poop all over the yard and will just (ooo gross) mow over it when he mows the lawn. The dog is old but is healthy as a horse. I will copy and past Nancy's post above and will save that if it gets so bad that I need to cause a war with the neighbors (as you all can attest-nothing like this is ever perceived as a great conversation starter).
thank you but we are small group and don't have a management company or larger organized gov't for just 3 units.