The ACC Story
Understanding ACC’s Failure
The ACC is crippled first by a failure in its own governance. Conflicts of interest prevents its board of directors from serving the interests of shelter animals rather than those of the Department of Health. Unfortunately, the DOH's interests have never included animal welfare. When Mayor Giuliani and the Department of Health created the ACC in 1994, they claimed it was an "independent" charity that had a true "public/private" partnership. The original ACC Board had 7 directors: 3 were government officials and 4 were non-government individuals vetted by the DOH and then appointed by the Mayor (the so-called "appointed" or "independent" directors).
The City's hostility to animals was evident from the beginning. Mayor Giuliani appointed the Commissioner of Sanitation to serve as ACC Chairman, reflecting Giuliani's view that animals are garbage.
The original ACC by laws required that for any motion to pass, all 3 government directors had to vote in lockstep. That meant that the City government controlled all ACC business.
And every five years when the animal services contract comes come up for renewal, the DOH dictates the new contract terms. There is no negotiation because the DOH sat on both sides of the negotiating table.
For years SRAC raged against the Board’s structure. In a gesture to assuage his critics, Giuliani removed the Sanitation Commissioner from the Board, replacing him with the Parks Commissioner. The DOH Commissioner would serve as Chairman and a representative of the New York Police Department's Public Liaison office rounds out the 3 government directors.
In late 2011 as part of a deal to relieve the DOH of its longstanding legal obligation to create shelters in the Bronx and Queens, the DOH agreed to expand the number of "appointed" directors from 4 to 6.
It took the DOH 1-1/2 years to find just the perfect 2 extra "appointed" directors, all of whom owe their allegiance to the City's interests, not the interests of animals. In fact, one of the new non-government directors was a former Deputy Health Commissioner. The change to the Board's composition has been cosmetic at best.
Even while the ACC needs to be restructured from within, there are outside forces that exacerbate animal homelessness and the mistreatment of NYC's animals.
For example, landlords impose arbitrary limits on the types and numbers of companion animals a tenant may own. Rather than focus on irresponsible pet owners, landlords (beginning with the largest landlord of all -- New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)) penalize all pet owners. The result is that over the years thousands of dogs and cats have been surrendered to the ACC because their owners were threatened with eviction.
The City also ignores an almost 100-year old State law requiring the teaching of Humane Education to grade school students. And despite research establishing that teaching empathy to other living creatures is vital to a child's development, it's been up to private organizations like H.E.A.R.T. to attempt fill in this vital lessons gap.
Animal cruelty (which covers a host of evils including dog fighting) continues to plague NYC. Without a coordinated effort between NYC's citizens and its law enforcement officials, cruelty will continue.
The City still lacks sufficient low cost or free spay/neuter services, vaccination and vet care services for neighborhoods that are centers of animal homelessness.
There is also insufficient support for TNR (Trap/Neuter/ Return) services that humanely reduce the size of the City's feral cat population.
And compliance with dog licensing (which should be a reliable and important source of funding for the ACC) remains laughable under DOH control.
Current ACC Top Leadership / The State of ACC Funding
No Effective Government Oversight
There is no law – either at the State or City level – requiring a shelter to give proper and humane care to its animals. The ASPCA sabotaged passage of the Companion Animal Access and Rescue Act (CAARA) that would have required proper care of shelter animals.
Sure, one would think that the City’s DOH of health might be concerned about ACC shelter conditions. After all, the DOH effectively runs the ACC. But the DOH does not care about animal welfare. So, no help there.
Comptroller Liu has proved to be an utter failure. He 2011 “audit” of ACC operations gave the ACC a passing grade … even while noting that the DOH and the ACC lied and stonewalled during the audit.
The City Council doesn’t care. They passed Local Law 59, which kicks the ACC’s problems down the road for 3 years … conveniently pass the 2013 elections.
The Mayor’s Office has never cared about shelter animals.
The ASPCA never investigated the many complaints of cruelty and neglect at the ACC.
The NYS Attorney General’s office refuses to investigate the conflict of interest on the ACC’s board, which should prevent it from being classified as a bona fide charity.
The NY State Department of Health has refused to investigated conditions at the ACC
In short, no one in government gives a damn. Because if they did, and they investigated, they’d have to do something about the ACC. And no one wants to spend a penny fixing the ACC.
Rescue Groups, Struggling To Work Around The ACC’s Failures
In an attempt to repair his reputation as ASPCA’s President, Ed Sayres boasted that, under the ASPCA’s watch, NYC has become the “most collaborative city” in the U.S. in saving shelter animals. What Sayres should have admitted is that the ACC looks to rescue groups to do the ACC’s job: saving animals, nursing them to help, and trying to find them permanent homes. The ACC just sits by while others do its job.
The Mayor’s Alliance organizes rescue groups: By 2002 relations between the ACC and its rescuers and volunteers had become so toxic that the ACC locked out both groups. The Mayor’s Alliance stepped in, promising to turn NYC into a “no kill” community by 2008 using grant monies from The Maddie’s Fund. Mayor Bloomberg and the DOH couldn’t have been happier. Without a penny on the City’s part, the Alliance promised to do all the hard work.
The problem is that rescuers alone can’t fix the ACC. All they can do is try to workaround the ACC’s failures. Yes, kill numbers have decreased since the Alliance went into effect in large measure due to rescuers pulling shelter animals. But by the time the animals reach rescue, they have been made good and sick by the ACC. In fact, conditions AT the ACC have only gotten worse over the years.
This is not the model to reform a shelter system. It’s a boot-of-the- pants workaround…placing undue burdens on rescue groups.
It’s time to reform the ACC itself.