The next meeting of the AITF will be on the 4th floor of the Bush Municipal Building at noon on September 10th. As I explained in my last blog, they will do a power point presentation on their findings and answer questions from a few City Council members and other key members of a City Committee.
PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Don't go to any of the future meetings and make a scene!
Read my first blog if you can...I was there for the City Council meeting in 2006...I strongly believe where we messed up was with all of the stories of how we love our pit bulls and how irate some people were. (I don't blame anyone, but I have learned a few things since then). I was going to speak, but I watched the City Council members and listened for hours before I realized, it didn't matter what we had to say, panic legislation was going to happen. The majority of City Council's mind was made up. They weren't even taking what area professionals had to say seriously. One speaker in particular is one of my mentors in life and I was shocked at the way he was treated by a certain city official.
The way I envision the meetings going this time would be professionals stating the facts...BSL does not work. Vicious dog legislation does work. Vicious bites may have gone down... but they are on the rise again. Why? My belief is because of the big uproar in Springfield in 2006. Public awareness was raised and everyone just chose a side without knowing the facts. We all put tighter reigns on our dogs no matter what breed. Everyone was listening to the city talk about the legislation, and frankly some of us didn't act very professional. I was upset too...I may have even had a few unprofessional moments myself...LOL
The task force has taken the time to research all of the facts. They have decided to take a whole city approach, not just fight one issue. We need a new shelter... We need to raise awareness and educate people...We need to punish people for not being responsible pet owners...We need to encourage spay and neuter in appropriate situations...We need to build a strong bond between citizens and Animal Control... And the list goes on.
WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER, NOT FIGHT ONE ANOTHER!
No comments:
Post a Comment