Best Friends proposes to operate a lifesaving center in Los Angeles

UPDATE: We are thrilled to be able to announce that the City Council passed this proposal by an 11-1 margin! We'll have more details coming soon, but we want to say thank you to all of you who took the time to advocate on behalf of the animals of Los Angeles! 

Pop quiz: Which saves more lives? A boarded-up building or a bustling community facility conducting adoptions and spay/neuter surgeries? While the answer may seem like a no-brainer, you might be surprised that not everyone’s noggin computes like yours and mine.

Best Friends Animal Society has submitted a proposal to the city of Los Angeles to operate a lifesaving, high-volume adoption and spay/neuter center at the Northeast Valley shelter, a facility that has never been opened to the public due to budget and staffing shortfalls.

Full disclosure: I love Los Angeles. It’s a great city. I was born and went to college in New York City, but I love L.A.  My wife, Silva, and I have been working in L.A. since 1991, and we have many friends in the animal welfare and rescue community. We developed model programs here and watched our local L.A. programs grow from a couple of people (us) and a group of volunteers knocking on doors for foster homes to a leader in the L.A. animal welfare community.

So, when the opportunity presented itself to do something really big for the animals and people of Los Angeles, I was delighted — especially since it is an opportunity to partner with the city when they really need a partner.

It’s a sweet deal for Los Angeles and for L.A. shelter pets. Best Friends will invest over a million dollars per year to turn what has now become a vacant building into a thriving adoption center and low-cost spay/neuter clinic for an underserved community. Our goal in the first year alone is to place 3,000 homeless pets from the other city shelters in good new homes and to fix 6,000 dogs and cats. That’s 3,000 fewer animals who will die in the L.A. shelter system and 6,000 pets who won’t have babies going into the community.

So the proposal should be a slam dunk, right?

Not so fast!

Let’s back up a tad. Northeast Valley was proposed for closure in the Mayor's Proposed 2010-11 Budget, and as revenues continued to shrink, the city administrative officer (CAO) of Los Angeles issued a Request for Information (RFI) to see if a qualified nonprofit would step forward to apply to operate the facility, avoid closure and save more animals’ lives.

The RFI period was extended from the normal four weeks to six weeks, and Best Friends was the only organization to submit a proposal. Being the only entrant, the city attorney gave the CAO the go-ahead to negotiate a draft contract with Best Friends to run the high-volume adoption and spay/neuter model out of the otherwise soon-to-be-closed Northeast Valley shelter.

The draft contract needed approval of the L.A. City Council to move to the next phase of evolution into a final contract.

Last Friday, our proposal went to the City Council. Council Member Richard Alarcón, who represents the 7th district where the Northeast Valley shelter is located, has objected to this idea from the start, feeling that his district deserves the full-service shelter that the bond measure that created it promised back in 2000. That is quite understandable, but just not possible in the current down economy.

While we can’t give Alarcón’s district the full-service shelter originally planned, Best Friends is offering to run an adoption center that will place 3,000 pets with families in the first year. We are offering to provide 6,000 spay/neuter procedures, including at least half for low-income residents of the 7^th district who would otherwise not be able to afford to have their animals fixed. What we are not offering is to provide animal control services. Unlike spay/neuter and adoptions, this is not our area of focus or expertise. However, since the Northeast Valley shelter has only ever had a skeleton staff, animal control services have never been offered from this location, so there will be no drop off in service. In fact, there will be a big boost in public services as described above.

Council Member Alarcón opposed our bid vociferously on Friday, citing everything from procedural issues to labor issues. Apparently he would rather see the facility fenced and boarded up, which will happen soon, than see it operated as the lifesaving center we have proposed.

We needed 8 votes to pass but only got 7 of the 10 council members in attendance to vote in favor. Council Member Alarcón managed to pull two fence-sitters into his camp.

Well, a 7-3 vote didn’t carry the day for L.A.’s shelter animals, but we are still in the game. We have another shot this coming Tuesday when a revote is scheduled and more council members will be in attendance. If you live in Los Angeles, we need your help to secure that 8^th vote.

This is politics, folks … it’s not a spectator sport!

It is really important that you contact your city council member and tell them that you want them to vote in favor of Best Friends’ proposal to run a lifesaving adoption and spay/neuter center at the Northeast Valley shelter.

 

Call or write now and tell them to vote in favor of Best Friends. The vote is Tuesday, August 16^th. They need to hear from you right away!

If you don’t live in LA, we can still use your help.  Please post this on Facebook and Twitter, and email any family or friends you have in L.A. who may be in favor and wish to voice their support.

Thank you for all you do to help homeless pets. Our work wouldn’t be possible without you.