| Shelter Reform Action Committee (SRAC) ShelterReform.org: Everything you ever wanted to know about the AC&C, but were afraid to ask. |
Shelter Reform had hoped there would be an overflow crowd at the ACC’s June 21st Board
Meeting.
We were shocked. “Overflow” is an understatement. There appeared to be at least 100 people who
wanted to attend the meeting, but the room was too small to accommodate them, along with the ACC
Board and ACC hangers-on.
In fact, there was such a large crowd, that Dr. Farley sent down several security guards to control the
people, many of whom weren’t even allowed to enter the building, but had to wait outdoors. To see
videos of the crowd scenes, click here for the lobby scene and click here for video of those people
left stranded outside.
One of them was a New York Times reporter, who spent the next hour chatting it up with all the other
people who found themselves shut out.
Now, Dr. Farley was told before the meeting started that there was a large crowd. But he adamantly
refused to consider moving the meeting to a larger room.
No indeed. The last thing Dr. Farley wants is to fling the doors open, allowing all those animal
advocates, rescuers, and volunteers into the room.
Videos of parts of the meeting are popping up on the internet. There were several very fine speakers
(including a hilarious comic routine).
With the assistance of professional studio engineer JAY BRAUN, we hope to post video coverage of
the entire meeting in the next day or two.
We’ll also post a synopsis of the meeting, focusing on all its highlights and howlers.
In the interim, we’ve posted the prepared speech by SRAC Board Member Esther Koslow. Esther
didn’t get to finish her speech … as Dr. Farley was relentless about his 3-minute time limit for every
speaker. (Admittedly, Esther can be longwinded … if one considers 3-1/2 minutes as being long
winded.)
Here’s Esther’s speech in its entirety:
Meeting.
We were shocked. “Overflow” is an understatement. There appeared to be at least 100 people who
wanted to attend the meeting, but the room was too small to accommodate them, along with the ACC
Board and ACC hangers-on.
In fact, there was such a large crowd, that Dr. Farley sent down several security guards to control the
people, many of whom weren’t even allowed to enter the building, but had to wait outdoors. To see
videos of the crowd scenes, click here for the lobby scene and click here for video of those people
left stranded outside.
One of them was a New York Times reporter, who spent the next hour chatting it up with all the other
people who found themselves shut out.
Now, Dr. Farley was told before the meeting started that there was a large crowd. But he adamantly
refused to consider moving the meeting to a larger room.
No indeed. The last thing Dr. Farley wants is to fling the doors open, allowing all those animal
advocates, rescuers, and volunteers into the room.
Videos of parts of the meeting are popping up on the internet. There were several very fine speakers
(including a hilarious comic routine).
With the assistance of professional studio engineer JAY BRAUN, we hope to post video coverage of
the entire meeting in the next day or two.
We’ll also post a synopsis of the meeting, focusing on all its highlights and howlers.
In the interim, we’ve posted the prepared speech by SRAC Board Member Esther Koslow. Esther
didn’t get to finish her speech … as Dr. Farley was relentless about his 3-minute time limit for every
speaker. (Admittedly, Esther can be longwinded … if one considers 3-1/2 minutes as being long
winded.)
Here’s Esther’s speech in its entirety:
| Hello, I’m Esther Koslow, and I’m a board member of Shelter Reform Action Committee. I’m going to ask you a series of questions. I know, the Board refuses to answer questions at these meetings. But I feel these questions should be asked. Dr. Farley, as Health Commissioner, when are you going to obey the law and build animal shelters for the Bronx and Queens? Dr. Farley, as ACC Chairman and head of its new “fundraising” committee, how’s that fundraising coming along? I heard you folks raised $26,000 at the ACC’s Annual Spring Fling. $26,000. Hmmm. At that rate, in about 60 to 70 years, the ACC will have made back the money the DOH has taken from the ACC over the past two years. Obviously, things are going so well on the fundraising front. So, who forced the DOH to agree to pay back some of the money you took from the ACC in those budget cuts? It certainly wasn’t your idea. Which politicians are finally putting the pressure on you. Dr. Farley, what would you do if a hospital – and as Health Commissioner, you have power over all the hospitals in the City – if a hospital had no medical director, only two doctors on staff, and one registered nurse. Wouldn’t you close that hospital down? Well, as DOH Chairman, you also control the ACC. How come the ACC is allowed to continue operating when it hasn’t had a Medical Director in over a year, and has only 2 vets on staff, and (at last count) only one vet tech? Isn’t the ACC’s Medical Dept grossly inadequate? Speaking of Medical Issues, Dr. Farley, why won’t the ACC and the DOH produce the so-called “Euthanasia Report.” It’s the DOH’s investigation of everything the ACC does wrong when it kills animals, including killing the wrong animals and having the wrong people do the killing, in violation of state law. For months, the ACC and then the DOH have lied to Shelter Reform Action Committee about that report’s very existence. Now the DOH’s general counsel claims the Euthanasia Report represents mere “recommendations” for the ACC’s consideration. They could take it or leave it. What a lot of nonsense and lies. The DOH discovered a host of problems at the ACC. The DOH ordered the ACC exactly what they had to do to make sure these problems didn’t happen again. But the problems continue. If I were a NY politician, I’d insist that the DOH and the ACC produce that Euthanasia Report immediately. Then I’d read the report, and once I read that report, I’d fire all of you. Then I’d appoint a special agency or organization to take over the ACC under emergency powers. Because what’s happening at the ACC is an emergency. My last question to the entire Board: Have you ever considered that you are the problem at the heart of everything that’s wrong with the ACC? Thank you. |