Dennis RomeroLabor and animal rights activists joined hands to fight a proposal that would leave cats and dogs home alone overnight at L.A. city shelters.
The proposal to end overnight supervision by animal care technicians was much-needed in the face of budget woes, said Los Angeles Animal Services general manager Brenda Barnett. But then she backed off in the face of opposition:
Barnett proposed killing the overnight shifts — citing other cities that do so — to save much-needed cash.
But she withdrew the idea until she could weigh public input from a town hall meeting coming up on Monday.
That might not be needed:
The Service Employees International Union Local 721 says City Council members Paul Koretz and Richard Alarcon have pledged to try to come up with the funding to hire 16 animal care technicians.
That would apparently do the trick as far as overnight staffing goes. The motion is expected to come before the council as soon as this week.
LA City animal shelter worker Jacob Miller:
This will be a major victory for L.A. residents and homeless animals. And the close partnership of animal shelter workers and the rescue community made it happen. We know better than anyone what's needed at city shelters — it all comes down to caring for the animals. We encourage the City Council to embrace this plan. It would keep our city's homeless animals safe and also increase public services.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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