Sample Letter to LB City Council - LB needs Transparency from SpcaLA

Copy and paste the letter below to send to Long Beach City Council members.  E-mail addresses of City Council members can be found here.

{Your name}
{Your city}
 
The Honorable Council(man/woman) {Last name}
Member, Long Beach City Council
                   
Dear Council(man/woman) {Last Name},
 
I am writing to thank you for passing a motion asking the City Attorney to review of the City’s lease with SpcaLA to determine if there are any violations to the lease and whether modification or termination of the lease is warranted.  

I am writing to let you know I completely support the Council's request.

I am very concerned about the many possible violations of the lease discussed at the Jan. 21 meeting, and was dismayed to hear from Councilwoman Pearce about the existence of a hostile workplace environment that may exist because of SpcaLA. Our LBACS shelter and its employees need and deserve to have the ability to serve Long Beach city residents without interference from a private organization.

Also, spcaLA is not transparent with the public, which means the public is not informed about what happens to the roughly 25% of shelter animals that LBACS transfers to spcaLA.  This is not in keeping with spcaLA’s role as a tenant of the City. I support full transparency by spcaLA if it continues to take animals from LBACS.

I am writing to ask that:

-- An audit of spcaLA be carried out, as was discussed at the Jan. 21 meeting, and no new  agreement be entered into with spcaLA;

-- The audit include a review of how donations to LBACS are handled, and whether any of those donations go to spcaLA;

-- The lease with spcaLA be enforced so that LBACS can operate independently and at the level required to meet the needs of Long Beach residents;

-- spcaLA be required to report the outcomes of animals in its shelter to the City;

-- The City Council support LBACS in its lifesaving role by making it completely operationally-independent of spcaLA, with its own adoption program, foster program, volunteer program and other programs needed to help it continue to save lives.  

Thank you very much for your support of our shelter and for being a voice for Long Beach residents.
 
Best regards,

{Name}