2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000
DRAFT
COMMISSION OF ANIMAL CONTROL AND
WELFARE
Mailing Address: 1390 Market Street,
Room 822
San Francisco, CA 94102
Voice Mail: (415) 252-3817
MINUTES OF MEETING -July 12,
2001
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
1(a). Chair Elissa Eckman convened the July
12, 2001 meeting of the Commission of Animal
Control and Welfare to order at approximately
5:35 p.m. at City Hall, Room 408, San Francisco, California.
Commissioners in attendance: Chair Elissa Eckman,
Vice Chair Cheryl Bentley, Secretary June Wilson, Jack Beslin, S.F.D.P.H.; Carl
Friedman, Animal Care & Control, Sgt. Bill Herndon, S.F.P.D., Catherine
Tchen, Sherri Franklin, Frederick Hobson.
The meeting was convened at approximately 5:35
p.m. Commission Chair Eckman presided during all aspects of the meeting. All
9 Commissioners (or their lawful designates) holding valid appointments being
present, the quorum requirement of Section 6 of the Commission’s "Rules
and Regulations" (50% of those eligible to vote) was satisfied.
2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:
The June 14,2001 meeting minutes were approved
at this meeting with minor corrections. Comm. Hobson requested that the minutes
be amended to include his comments that the name change did pass in the Public
Health & Environment Committee and that he, Bentley and Tchen were concerned
with the attempt to kill this item (Note: The full Board voted to return the
name change proposal back to this commission to allow the 3 commissioners
who did not vote on this matter, an opportunity to do so.)
3. CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT
3(a). The Chair explained that she had published
2 agendas, the second agenda included items that were not publicly noticed
according to the Sunshine Ord. Therefore, the first agenda must stand. The
Chair also stated that there has been a big rise in dog fighting recently
mentioned on TV and in newspaper articles.
3(b) The Chair stated that we have now got funding
of $10,000. Comm Friedman stated that the funding is in the Dept of Administrative
Services and also gave suggestions on how to handle this funding. Comm. Bentley
suggested that we write a letter to the Finance Committee and Supervisor Peskin
thanking them for the funding and the Chair also thanked Comm. Bentley for
all her hard work in helping to get this funding passed.
3(c) The Chair thanked city attorney Rosa Sanchez
for all her hard work in completing the Rules and Regulations of the Commission.
1. Nothing has been done yet about the
live animal markets. Supervisors are all busy with the budget.
2. Funding for ACC: Comm. Friedman stated
that they can still provide the same services as they did for the previous year.
3. Still working on the removal of trees.
4. Comm. Hobson is still working on the
elimination of fares of animals travelling on MUNI. Comm. Bentley stated that
she went to a hearing with her parrot and was not allowed in with her pet. Comm.
Hobson stated that he has been allowed in with his parrot and that Barbara Taylor
has her little dog with her at all times.
5. No answer yet about letter sent to the
Board re UCSF lack of cooperation with city’s resolution concerning animal testing.
6. No answer yet regarding a dog license
fee increase.
4 COMMITTEE REPORTS
(a) There are some minor details to be ironed
out regarding the distribution of the crime stoppers (anti dog fighting) posters
but they should be out very soon. Supervisor McGoldrick expressed interest
in getting the posters up. The Chair thanked Comm. Herndon for all his work
in helping with the posters.
(b) Fur Ban Ord.: Comm. Franklin stated that
it was difficult to get meetings with the Supervisors to enlist their support
on this measure. They have 3 supervisors signed on and need one more to get
it on the ballot..
5 OLD BUSINESS
(a) There was considerable discussion on the
Name Change with no one coming to an agreement and it will be discussed further
at the next meeting. Four of the public were in favor of the name change.
6 PUBLIC COMMENT
Eric Mills spoke about ostrich meat eating, plus
Pasadena, CA has ban rodeos and circuses, whale hunting, and the live animal
markets where he is trying to get all concerned together to get the Kuehl Bill
moving forward.
Dr. George complained on the increase of license
fees for dogs for responsible owners who do license their dogs. Cats should
be licensed also. The money from licensing should not go into the general fund.
The SF/SPCA supports dog licensing increases and
that the extra money will not go to the general fund. They are opposed to cat
licensing at this time.
Lisa Victorie of SF Dog said that she hoped that
this commission would respond to the draft dog policy of Rec & Park. She
walks several hours a day with her dogs and is against having dogs on leashes.
She begged. ACC to be a forerunner and to be an advocate
Wendy McClure of SFDog urged the commission to
take a good look at draft dog policy as it will affect thousands of dogs in
this city. She is appalled that Rec & Park did not include this commission
as one of the stakeholders as we should have got the policy months ago and as
public comment is up 13th August, she suggested we ask for an extension.
Francine Polensky echoed Ms. McClure sentiments
Florence Sarrett asked how many commissioners
had read the dog policy, only 2. There are now 17 parks where dogs can go off
leash. Several parks are unusable and covered with foxtails. The new draft policy
provides 18 or 20 but in order for a neighborhood park to receive a new dog
pen, first, the community must apply for the pen. The pens will be fenced and
in some cases of the small parks, the pens will be quite small, min. 8000 square
feet (size & 1/2 of a tennis court) and they do limit the number of dogs
to 20 at one time. Many dogs crowded in a pen invites dog fights so no dog owners
would apply and non-dog owners certainly wouldn’t like to see their park defaced
with a tennis court surrounded by a cyclone fence, so they would not apply either.
I predict that that will leave the 17 existing ones available She suggests that
this commission write a letter to Rec. & Park to delay the community input
another 30 days asking them to modify their restrictions
Comm. Friedman responded to Dr. George that the
dog license money goes into the Animal Welfare Fund. He did not like asking
the Board for extra money for license as it’s the responsible dog owners that
pay. For the last 8 years, they have tried to take over the dog licensing for
the estimated 125,000 dogs in the city and county. At last count only 11,000
were licensed. If a dog is lost, a license helps, find the owner. If a dog is
licensed, people know that it has had its rabies shots. Extra money will help
them with their resources. They do include cats and other animals. Supervisor
Leno wrote some new dog legislation, "why are only 11,000 dogs licensed"
enforcement is one issue but Comm. Friedman thinks its more education and more
people would get their dog licensed if it was made easier. He thanks the SF/SPCA
for helping too, not mandatory but making it available for their customers.
In order to get resources, he wants to get someone in the parks, not for giving
citations for having a dog off a leash but to educate them, but the Board has
not given it top priority so he came up with a small increase in licenses and
we will get enough revenue to get community outreach. Eventually, with money
they get, they can take over the whole administration from the tax collector’s
office and if he can get a 75% compliance rate, watch out SPCA, he’s going to
do some fantastic things. Together he means.
Elliot Katz spoke about a show at the Arts Commission
where they threw chickens and feces into the audience. Comm. Friedman said that
the manager told him that they were rubber chickens. ACC and Health Dept. are
looking into it.
Comm. Hobson said that the Chair didn’t include
on the agenda, a time for calendar items where commissioners can suggest that
something we request be put on the agenda for the next meeting. He wants us
to do a follow up on the Rec and Park and also a recommendation to the Board
that they adopt a resolution to encourage people not buy any cosmetics tested
on animals. First, it was decided to have a special meeting about the draft
dog policy, then it was decided that Comm Franklin and Wilson will draft a letter
to the Rec. & Park.
7 ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m., motion
by Comm. Eckman, seconded by the Comm. Wilson
Dated: 24th July, 2001
June P. Wilson, Secretary