This is Artemis.  She's our rescue kitty who came to us from Rochester's Verona Street Animal Shelter.  She adopted my family about 7 years ago.  We were very happy with the process and the condition of the shelter.  A lot has changed since then.  The shelter is a mess.  It's an embarrassment and the mismanagement by the City has created a public hazard. The people responsible for this situation should be voted out / relieved of their duties.  People have been coming to City Council meetings for well over a year to complain.  After all of the complaints they've heard, one member of City Council who is up for re-election this year is having a hearing.  That's the only action that is happening.  Folks have talked to the Mayor, made phone calls, sent emails, and more.  So what's wrong?  If you're on Facebook, I suggest you check out the posts on the Voiceless of Verona Street page.  But for those who are not on Facebook, I'll summarize. 

The shelter currently has no veterinarian.  Why?  Because the City will not pay an appropriate salary for one.  (Shall we look at some of the salaries of people at City Hall?) 

The shelter is underfunded.  They can't pay enough staff to be open appropriate hours. Food and other supplies run out.  How morally bankrupt is that? 

The shelter is overcrowded. The space is too small and outdated.  It's so bad, Verona has to be a "kill shelter" in which animals are euthanized when there isn't enough room. 

The hours of the shelter are not conducive to people being able to adopt animals.  If you're only open during business hours, people who work a 9-5 job cannot come to the shelter to adopt an animal.  

The shelter no longer accepts animals from people who cannot take care of their pets any longer.  This isn't the place to discuss why people cannot take care of their pets, but if they can't, they're not able to take them to Verona, like the person who gave up Artemis 7 years ago.  So in desperation, people abandon the animals.  Notice more dogs and cats on the streets of Rochester?  This is a public hazard.

The shelter has adopted this concept of "community cats", where they won't take in feral cats, but will neuter them (if they ever get a veterinarian again) then release them back onto the streets.  Supposedly, this is supposed to take care of another problem Rochester has - rats.  So our City is not taking responsibility for our issue with rats and is hoping these ignored animals will do it for them. 

This situation is disgusting.  Not only is the way these animals are treated deplorable, but it's unfortunately typical that it takes hundreds of people showing up for years to demand change before anyone in local government does anything.  (This goes for every situation that needs remedy in Rochester, but I will address that later.)

When I am voted into City Council, I will:

• Insist funding for the shelter in the annual budget is increased to an acceptable level.  This includes an appropriate salary for the continually vacant position of veterinarian and money for staffing in order for the shelter to be open more hours.
• Propose legislation that uses an appropriate building that the City already owns to replace the building on Verona Street in order to have adequate space.
• Propose legislation that prohibits a City-run animal shelter from being a "kill shelter" and that abandons the "community cats" concept.

By doing these things, not only will we be doing what is morally correct, but helping create a better Rochester.