Hello everyone, im really seriously conflicted on this issue and genuinely want to know if I'm being the asshole. This might be all over the place since theres a bunch of context, but man, I just need to know if I'm being the asshole or not.

So, I (25NB) live in Chicago with my 11month old Corgi puppy, Moxxi. I live in a condo building with a big courtyard in it. It doesn't have any grass in it, just a lot of woodchips and some little green leafy plant things that are only around in the summer, and die off in the fall/once it gets cold (and only just started popping up in april). I moved in about 2 years ago, and when I first moved in, out of 41 units it seemed like only 2 had dogs. Since last year (around the time I got my dog) SEVERAL other owners in the building have gotten dogs. 8 new babies in total, bringing the owners up to 9 dog owning units (one unit has two dogs now) and I know of a few others who want to get dogs with all the changes to the vibes (my friends K/L, a family, and a solo male have all asked me about where I adopted my dog from and expressed wanting to get dogs too). This is a very VERY dog friendly neighborhood, in a high density area with tons of dogs around in the buildings, tons of dog friendly patios outside at restaurants, but sadly, no park for us to play with. The nearest park is 2 miles away, and doesn't have a fenced in dog park either.

In the buildings bylaws, dogs have to be on a leash at all times and aren't allowed to go to the bathroom inside the courtyard. Any bathroom messes that aren't cleaned up will result in a fine from the HOA. A couple of us owners (mainly three of us) have been allowing our dogs to run around in the courtyard in low-traffic times of the day so we can all hang out in the common element. Very much a 'ask forgiveness instead of permission' kind of thing. Might be an asshole there, 100%. They go to the bathroom there, but we try and clean up after them as much as possible. I hesitate to say we're perfect because accidents happen, but we all certainly try our best. I've picked up shit that isn't my dog's multiple times, especially if it's during the day and I just run out for a quick potty break with my puppy (potty training was ROUGH for a while there) and if I see a stray turd laying around, I clean it up. There is an unknown dog owner in the building who IS throwing away poop in the common element trash cans, and we three friends who play outside all agree that is absolutely not acceptable. Throw it away in the alley, its not that hard.

There's also recently (like early march) been an aggressive coyote in the neighborhood. I was going on a midnight walk with my neighbor (30ish Male) and his corgi beans, and this coyote stalked us around the block, and then began RUNNING at us. We called 911 and animal control once we got safely in the courtyard, but they basically said 'tough shit, don't walk your dog at night'. So I haven't been leaving the courtyard with my dog to go potty since then because I'm genuinely afraid. I brought this up to the HOA president to not just report the incident, but explain why I was ESPECIALLY not going to be going out to the street to let my dog go to the bathroom after sundown. I live in a city, I don't want to fist fight a coyote at midnight because my dog needs to tinkle.

The rest of my building doesn't seem to care, and everyone really seems to love Moxxi. Some of them don't even know my name, they just know my dog's name, which is fine by me! She's the friendliest cuddliest dog in the world. I feel incredibly thankful for the community I've managed to build! I have friends in the building now, babysit the neighbor family, celebrate birthdays, there was a building holiday party over the winter, and I just handed out over 200 cookies for easter to my neighbors. It's a really great building, and I care very deeply for all of my neighbors. Some of us were even talking about doing a BBQ this summer in the courtyard for the 4th of july.

So, with all those contexts, we finally had an incident. 5 months ago the HOA president's wife got hip surgery and has only recently been complaining and wanting us to stop letting our dogs run around in the courtyard, and has begun fining us for letting our dogs run around because of one incident. She didn't bring this up until an incident happened last week, and has been rushing to fine us because her hubby is the president of the HOA.

She was coming home, and the three dogs waddled up to her. they really weren't even running. Two of them are chubby corgis, and one is a little chihuahua lookin' rat dog who weighs 10 lbs soaking wet. The little dog was jumping at her ankles (I disapprove, but hey, not my dog) and the other two corgis were just sniffing her. She had met my dog plenty of times before (she lives in my tower) so I wasn't too worried about it, and had a friendly conversation with her as she walked past and went inside.

We three didn't think it was that big of a deal, but then we got hit with a fine because we're breaking the rules. So we paid the fines and have been putting our dogs on leashes since then. I brought it up to a HOA meeting that I'd like to get a discussion going on revisiting the dog bylaws, because of the increase in dog ownership in the building. I think having some set dates/times (example: tuesday night from 7pm-9pm) where us dog owners who want to use the courtyard for some play time should be allowed. Not every night, not every day, just like, maybe once or twice a week in general low traffic times? With warnings so everyone else in the building is aware that oh hey, dogs.

After the HOA meeting tonight where I asked if I could get a petition going (if that was a route they would take seriously), they said yes, but I just got a message posted on the discussion forum by the HOA president's wife saying us wanting our dogs to play in the courtyard is ableist because we never know who might have allergies, be scared of dogs, or have invisible disabilities. I can really sympathize (I have ligament issues and have had multiple corrective surgeries) that feeling unsteady on your feet with a dog jumping on you is hard and can be *terrifying*. I 100% agree that dogs jumping is bad behavior that should be worked on. I worked hard to make sure my dog doesn't do it anymore. I took her training very seriously, and love doing tricks with her too!
The HOA president's wife lady says she has a right to live in a safe building and not be worried about an animal knocking her over. I 100% agree- but I feel like a middle ground can be reached. I don't think it has to be all or nothing. I think we as dog owners who live in a shared building have a right to ask for some accommodations as long as we aren't being intrusive and obnoxious (I talked to the rat dog's mom about training her to cut down on her jumping and get better at working on recall) and I think she has a right to feel comfortable in the building she calls home. She lives in a dog friendly building, in a very dog friendly neighborhood. It feels like she's using her position as HOA president's wife to get her way when the vibe on the floor of the community feels different (which would be where a petition with over 50% owner signatures to even talk about the issue would be beneficial to see if the vibe has even shifted as much as I think it has.) As far as I am aware, she's the only one complaining about the dogs playing in the courtyard.

So, in a long winded way-- am I the asshole for wanting to find some kind of compromise here that would allow for some doggy playtime while also trying to keep her comfortable?

EDIT:: im gettin' totally flamed for the dog poop part. I 100% clean up all my dogs shit, its so tiny, I would honestly have to try to not, and amazon sells bundles of doggy bags for cheap af that are biodegradable, so I think theres no excuse.
I wanted to give some kind of grace because I know there other assholes in the building who DONT clean up after their dogs, and if anything, I was cleaning up after them to try and be nice. But I 100% agree that dog shit SHOULD NOT be left in the courtyard! That attracts rodents