Per my (and commenter) request, City Councilwoman Hunt explains her “no” vote on the pet ordinance yesterday:
I will write more on my blog, but long story short, we’re not going to legislate ourselves out of our horrible stray dog problem. Â I almost feel like this was a feel-good, “look at us, we’re doing something,” ordinance rather than a real plan to reduce the stray dogs. I’ve been pushing for a real education campaign (plus stiff penalties for violators) regarding stray dogs. Â I got a map from code with all the 311 stray dog calls, and while there are calls from all over the city, most are clumped in specific areas. Â I was pushing for a very concentrated, targeted education/enforcement/free spay neutering in those areas. Â I think that’ll do more than this ordinance, which has some provisions that may actually discourage people from registering their pets with the city.
