Dog Parker Leaves NYC Due to Regulations.
Feb 07, 2018 brooklyn,brooklyn paper,department of transportation,dog houses,dog parker,dot,new york,new york city,nyc,small buisnesses,start-up businesses
We blogged about this local start-up company when we started seeing their adorable little dog houses on our neighborhood sidewalks and now we are learning that Dog Parker is taking their boxes and leaving the city because of issues they have been having with local transit officials. Apparently the Dept. of Transportation has been threatening to remove the house from the sidewalk. Dog Parker has decided to go national and take their business to other cities around the US that they have been in talks with but hope to return to NYC at some point. There is an excerpt from the press release below and read this article from Brooklyn Paper to learn more.
Facing threats from the Department of Transportation, Dog Parker drastically cuts its footprint in NYC and will focus on national expansion.
Brooklyn-born, female-founded startup hopes to return to New York City
Brooklyn-born and award-winning startup Dog Parker has announced its decision to drastically cut its New York City operations, and has begun removing its dog houses from New York City streets in the face of regulatory adversity and threats from the Department of Transportation.
The decision to virtually shut down New York City operations comes at a time when the company was experiencing incredible success that garnered international attention: Dog Parker has received inquiries and requests from cities across the globe who want the company’s service in their municipalities, as 300+ representatives from cities across the world have expressed interest in bringing Dog Parker to their city, including 50+ mayors from communities across the United States.
“We were able to grow up in New York City,” said the company’s Co-Founder and CEO Chelsea Brownridge, “and because of our success here we have more opportunities across the United States and abroad, which is what we will focus on. The regulatory challenges and aggressive regulatory climate in NYC is simply too burdensome to run our business here. We hope that will change soon.”
Dog Parker was originally founded in 2014, with the first prototype designed and built in a garage in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Shortly thereafter, the company received seed grants from the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Futureworks program, and the Brooklyn Public Library. In early 2016, Dog Parker launched a two house pilot program with a small group of dog guardians in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
The company has grown significantly in the New York City market since the launch of their newest model in the fall of 2016, in just over a year they have experienced continued momentum with their utilization growing at an average of 23% every month, with an active user base growing at an average of 30% every month, all of this across a network of 40 doghouses utilized by dozens of retail partners.
Beyond NYCEDC’s investment in the company, Dog Parker’s success also garnered attention from the de Blasio Administration, when the Mayor’s Office of Tech and Innovation invited Dog Parker to exhibit at the Smart Cities World Expo in the fall of 2017 as part of a cohort of New York City smart city startups.
Unfortunately, New York City’s regulatory environment has proven untenable for a first-of-its-kind, smart city idea like Dog Parker, and despite the fact that the company operated and successfully grew for more than two years without a single violation or 311 complaint, the Department of Transportation has threatened to remove and impound Dog Parkers from the City’s streets.