stopthekilling - What is happening in Los Angeles?

[Noah]

City Attorney Vivienne Swanigan (who is being paid money to "screw" the animals by attempting to obtain an unethical restraining order against two animal rights activists,) approached them after a recent court hearing to ask about some small dogs she saw at the North Central "shelter." She asked Lindy Greene and Pamelyn Ferdin if the small dogs she witnessed shivering in their cages during the last bout of chilly weather and rain in LA were cold. NO SHIT, SHERLOCK! Swanigan stated that since she doesn't own any pets, she didn't know if these small dogs shivering and trying to get out of the rain were getting enough warmth in their OUTDOOR cages!

Greene and Ferdin realized that this Deputy City Attorney who is being paid to silence activists calling for the No Kill Equation to be implemented at LAAS by the Mayor's office is, lets just say, "out in the cold" as to this issue of shivering dogs! So, we proceeded to try to educate her about the fact that the 154 million-dollar, tax-paid shelters have such egregious design flaws and were built in such a shoddy manner that not only do the caged animals lack warmth in cold weather, but the rescue community has lodged a whole host of other complaints against these expensive but non-functional buildings. We also informed her of the tasks Ed Boks has been asked for months to do to solve some of these issues at the shelters - but, of course, nothing has been done, because he's too busy blogging and killing animals. Swanigan responded that she has heard awful things about Ed Boks' mismanagement of the City shelters! Interesting!

Vivienne Swanigan, along with fellow Deputy City Attorney Hugo Rossiter, are being paid with YOUR tax dollars to try and silence Greene and Ferdin in their calling for Jimmy Blackman to honor his pledge to bring in No Kill Solutions to consult and implement the No Kill Equation inside LAAS. Swanigan has requested the court force Greene and Ferdin to stay 100 yards (size of a football field) away from the home that Jimmy Blackman owns in Tarzana. James Madison and the other Framers of our Constitution must be turning over in their graves at such a whoredom request by an agent of the court such as Swanigan.

In a conversation in Judge Rico's chambers, Swanigan admitted that Mayor Villaraigosa and City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo were both behind the decision to fund Maria Blackman's attempt to secure restraining orders against Greene and Ferdin using taxpayer dollars - even though she is not a City employee. Furthermore, there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE that either Greene or Ferdin violated any laws. In fact, at every picket in which Greene and Ferdin participated, neither was ever approached by police to state that they were acting in any manner other than perfectly legally in the neighborhood where Deputy Jimmy Blackman owns his home. Maria Blackman has no evidence - photographic, video, or audio - of Greene and Ferdin ever doing anything the least bit offensive, harassing, or illegal.

As it stands now, attorneys for Greene and Ferdin have filed an ethics complaint for the misuse of taxpayer funds in this ludicrous attempt by the City to violate one of the most protected activities in the First Amendment; seeking redress of grievances in a public fora such as demonstrating on our tax paid side walks. The two defendants have their next court date at the end of March. Ferdin states, "Not only have my co-defendant and I never harassed or stalked Maria Blackman, but we have never even spoken to her. I've seen her three times in my entire life - two times in court and once at the very first picket in Jimmy Blackman's neighborhood which I attended. At that picket in June 2007, Maria Blackman came storming out of the home screaming obscenities in front of her teenager. She was yelling not only at the legal picketers, but also into the phone on which she claimed to be communicating with Jimmy Blackman. Maria was calling Jimmy every name in the book and throwing a full-blown tantrum, while silent picketers looked on in shock. Then, she grabbed her little dog with such anger that he squealed in pain. This woman definitely has a screw loose. In all the pickets my co-defendant and I have participated in this neighborhood, we have spoken to neighbors who are quite open-minded and some have even told us that they will write the Deputy Mayor asking him to implement the No Kill Equation inside LAAS."

This ludicrous attempt at obtaining a temporary restraining order against Greene and Ferdin is simply an effort by Maria's ex-husband, Mayor Villaraigosa, and Rocky Delgadillo to use their power and influence in an unethical, illegal, and unconstitutional way against individuals who are exposing Villaraigosa's and Blackman's shameless responsibility for the needless slaughter transpiring inside LAAS. Unfortunately, Vivienne Swanigan is being "paid" to do things that are not only unethical and immoral, but which fly in the face of what our fore fathers fought and died for in order to preserve First Amendment activities.

In our opinion Elliot Spitzers' escorts weren't nearly as naughty in providing THEIR services; at least it was between two consenting adults. Swanigan is taking YOUR money to "screw" the animals and the activists who expose and hold accountable those responsible for their needless slaughter. Shame on her and shame on those like Blackman and Villaraigosa who are encouraging this unethical behavior at tax payers expense.

ADL-LA Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. Many of the reports contained in our Action Alerts and on our web site at www.StopTheKilling.net have been received anonymously and the Campaign cannot make any guarantees for the accuracy of these reports. Any views or comments stated in reports, Action Alerts or on the web site are not necessarily the views of STK or ADL-LA.

[Noah]

There is more:

Did you know that Ed Boks supports having Western University Veterinary School cherry pick animals at the city shelters to kill and then dissect? Can you imagine that? Well, it's exactly correct, unbelievable as it is!

The purpose of an animal shelter is to provide a safe haven for lost and homeless animals until they are located by their owners or adopted into loving homes. (Can you imagine the horror of a distraught owner's searching for a beloved lost pet only to discover that his or her companion has been prematurely killed and is lying on a slab awaiting dissection?) A shelter is not supposed to be a supply house for dissection classes, especially when most schools - elementary, secondary, collegiate and even medical schools - are phasing out the anachronistic practice in favor of the much scientifically superior and more innately compassionate techniques like computer modeling, and internships for students at established veterinary practices.

Setting up a program in which animals are pre-selected from a "shelter" to be killed and whose bodies are sent out to the dissection mill also gives students the clear message that animals are expendable commodities whose lives - and deaths - are meaningless. It makes a mockery of the misfortunes and maltreatment they suffered at the hands of random fate or negligent guardians before they had the even worse luck to end up incarcerated in the shelter system. Such desensitization toward those who were only shortly before living, breathing, sentient beings capable of feeling the same pain and loneliness as any human can induce attitudes of callousness and contempt with the potential for escalating abuse of animals that ultimately "graduates" to people.

It seems that the idea of NO KILL is becoming more and more an elusive fantasy. It shows that Ed Boks is now abandoning all pretense at attempting to implement the policies, protocols, procedures, and programs that would lead Los Angeles in the direction of that supposedly stipulated objective. He has empirically failed dismally at it - with kill stats higher than ever before despite his lies and disingenuous endeavors to "cook the books." Perhaps now he has discovered yet another category to be conveniently omitted from the kill numbers - not to mention one which can allow him to facetiously boast that he is "supporting education" while he commodifies the dead. Ed is nothing if not a shameless opportunist and proven dissembler of the first order.

Los Angeles is progressively becoming more unfriendly to the animals who live off this City's streets. They are terrorized by the environment's inherent dangers and then by a shelter system that provides little relief other than an unceremonious and undeserved death.

This spiritually repugnant proposition which Ed Boks supports, must be stopped in its tracks.

ADL-LA Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. Many of the reports contained in our Action Alerts and on our web site at www.StopTheKilling.net have been received anonymously and the Campaign cannot make any guarantees for the accuracy of these reports. Any views or comments stated in reports, Action Alerts or on the web site are not necessarily the views of STK or ADL-LA.

[Noah]

THE SAGA GOES ON AND ON

ACTIVISTS WIN ANTI-SLAPP MOTION AGAINST THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES This is the 3rd anti-slapp motion (a motion to ‘strike’ a TRO as being unconstitutional) won by animal rights activists campaigning to “Stop the Killing” at LA’s Department of Animal Services (LAAS)
Los Angeles, CA: On Friday April 25th Judge Richard Rico granted the attorney representing two picketers the anti-slapp motion he filed against the city and deputy city attorney’s Vivienne Swanigan and Hugo Rossitor. This case resulted from a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued for Maria Teresa Blackman, Deputy Mayor Jimmy Blackman’s ex-wife, who claimed she was in fear of the two activists picketing her neighborhood. As soon as the case was filed by the city attorney’s office against the two activists, an ethical complaint was filed on behalf of the two picketers stating that because Maria Blackman is a private citizen, taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for her attorney’s expenses to litigate this matter. However, it was later disclosed that both Rocky Delgadillo and Mayor Villaraigosa gave special permission to the two deputy city attorneys to use tax funds to pay for full representation of Maria Blackman no matter the cost. Hundreds of letters and e-mails were sent to Laura Chick, city comptroller along with the Ethics Committee by LA residents complaining that their tax money was being spent on this frivolous and unconstitutional litigation; thus far none of the complaints have been responded to.

The city of LA brought this TRO against two legal picketers who were simply leafleting and picketing the neighborhood where Jimmy Blackman owns a residence in order to expose and educate the neighborhood about the thousands upon thousands of cats, dogs, puppies, kittens and wildlife being needlessly killed because of Villaraigosa’s and Blackman’s appointee Ed Boks, to head up the LAAS. Under Ed Boks, the killing has gone up another 24% in the first quarter of 2008 alone. The Mayor and his staff appointed Boks in 2006 after Boks had been let go as the general manager of Maricopa, Arizona’s shelter system and fired by NYC as their executive direction of the NYC Animal Care and Control. Boks never graduated college and apparently because his credentials wouldn’t have past city personnel review, Mayor Villaraigosa circumvented the city’s hiring by-laws and appointed Boks anyway.

Animal activists have been waging a campaign in Los Angeles demanding that Villaraigosa and Blackman keep the pledge they made in 2005 to hire No Kill Solutions to consult with LAAS and then implement their proven No Kill Equation which has saved tens of thousands of animals from death in other municipal shelters throughout the US. Nathan Winograd of www.nokillsolutions is a Stanford graduate and attorney who has dedicated his life to revamping the archaic and abusive ways most city shelters imprison and kills homeless and lost animals, and has created practical, realistic and compelling policies, protocols and programs which when implemented in city shelters, have drastically increased the adoption rate and decreased the kill rate.

One of the defendants, Pamelyn Ferdin, stated after departing Judge Rico’s courtroom, “Judge Rico upheld the Constitution this morning which the framers of our country fought so hard for and which George W. has stated is just a damn piece of paper! I think with Obama in the race for President, the climate has changed even before his nomination; Obama has indicated in many of his campaign speeches how Americans must take their government back from the sleazy politicians and lobby groups who have infested the highest political offices. He also has mentioned the fact that the Americans who went out and protested during the civil rights era and who were then attacked and sued by the government were heroes. I don’t feel like a hero per se, but I do know that it’s a fact that the City of LA is using hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars to try and stop picketers like me from letting the residents of LA know who is responsible for this slaughter and what they can do about it.”

Ferdin went on to say that “Villaraigosa has been so busy brown nosing Hillary Clinton for a spot in Washington as well as engaging in several adulterous affairs on his wife and family he doesn’t have the time or the interest in keeping the pledge he made to the homeless and lost animals of this city, as well as the humane community and residents who pay his salary. Unless he and his staff begin to take the needless slaughter of homeless and lost animals seriously by taking simple steps to hire an expert in this area, picketers will simply continue our fight to stop the killing as long as it takes. We will never back down from this fight.”

The attorney who represented Ferdin at his own great expense will now be filing an affidavit for reimbursement of expenses he incurred fighting the city. Ferdin and her pro se co-defendant didn’t have the ‘luxury’ of taxpayers paying all their legal expenses as did private LA resident Maria Blackman.

[Noah]

THERE IS MORE -----
Last week the LA Times indicated that Mayor Villaraigossa is cutting the budget for LAAS; this is of course one huge step backwards in the quest to become no kill. Our sources reported to ADL-LA last Friday that Ed Boks has decided to implement these budget cuts by decreasing the hours that individuals can adopt animals and save lives. Of course not a PEEP was heard from Jimmy Blackman, the mayor's deputy that oversees LAAS, regarding this immoral and unethical cut back that will result in the increased murder of innocent animals. Both Ed Boks and Jimmy Blackman are so dead set on furthering their own careers and keeping their six figure salaries, they decided to send the shelter animals down the river once again, rather than stand up for these animals' lives and risk disagreeing with their "boss" Villaraigosa.

Our inside sources confirmed to ADL-LA that neither Boks nor Blackman said or did anything to try and change the Mayor's mind regarding cutting the LAAS budget. They didn't even offer Villaraigosa options to cut the budgets of other departments to prevent the deaths of innocent sentient beings or to lay out the facts that the city of LA can actually make money by NOT murdering these animals.

No Kill Solutions has made it very clear and has proven that a city can actually MAKE money by adoptions and saving the lives of lost and homeless animals; but because of the incompetence of Ed Boks and others the animals continue, like the one pictured above, to be murdered in fear and terror by fatal injection.

In addition, under Ed Boks shelter killings are UP over 24% in this first quarter alone. Please go to www.StopTheKilling.net and click on the "targets" page and then on Jimmy Blackman's file. Write to him and demand he do the right thing and get rid of Ed Boks and bring in No Kill Solutions to finally get our city on the road to No Kill.

ADL-LA Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. Many of the reports contained in our Action Alerts and on our web site at www.StopTheKilling.net have been received anonymously and the Campaign cannot make any guarantees for the accuracy of these reports. Any views or comments stated in reports, Action Alerts or on the web site are not necessarily the views of STK or ADL-LA.

[Noah]

MORE:
It shouldn't surprise ADL-LA or any other grass roots animal rights group that many animal welfare organizations which are profit-driven, compromise and even sell out the very principles they are supposed to uphold. But being a witness to this type of behavior by certain organizations still saddens grass roots and independent activists whose true commitment is to the liberation of animals and NOT to profit, greed or political gain.

As we witnessed a month or so ago, HSUS and its president Wayne Pacelle invited and intended to honor Antonio Villaraigosa at the Genesis awards to presumably further Pacelle's political ambitions; and now we come to find out that Worldfest is selling out the animals for their own profit.

Rather than these so called animal welfare groups taking a stand on principle and disassociating themselves with individuals like Mayor Villaraigosa, they get into the same bed with him for their own self interests! Antonio Villaraigosa has caused the deaths of thousands of shelter animals by appointing the inept, incompetent fraud Ed Boks to be General Manager of LAAS (this was in exchange for a large campaign contribution to Villaraigosa's furture gubernatorial run.) In addition to this, he also went back on his campaign pledge to send Gita and two other LA Zoo elephants held captive for years to a sanctuary, so they could have lived out the rest of their lives in peace with other elephants.

A few months after Antonio Villaraigosa went back on his campaign pledge, the lovely Gita died alone and in misery on a cement slab floor at the LA Zoo; and in the first quarter of this year alone, shelter murders are up over 24% under his appointee, Ed Boks.

Worldfest began ten years ago as an event to celebrate, embrace and educate the public as to all the spokes in the wheel that make up the vegan/animal rights and environmental movements. The producers of the event accepted everyone who paid for a booth, from the most timid animal welfare groups to the most militant and passionate. The producers of Worldfest and members of the public who attended may not have agreed with the information being given out at all the booths, but no one could deny that each one was trying to do their part for animals. There will always be disagreements in the strategies used to fight for true animal liberation, as there were in all previous historical struggles and movements of the past. But those of us with a historical framework realize that all previous social struggles before us and surely those to follow, use many weapons in their arsenal of tactics. And even though we may not personally agree with some of those tactics, we must respect the fact that all are needed to win animal liberation.

Unfortunately the Worldfest board of directors and producers have turned the original idea of Worldfest into a profit-driven, narrow-minded corporate caricature of it's former self.

An animal rights booth was banned from this past Saturday's Worldfest event, even though the group had sent in their credit card number and contract months ago; furthermore, no one at Worldfest had the courtesy nor the professionalism to inform them they would be turned away from the event when they arrived Saturday morning to set up their booth. The reason given as to why they had been banned was this: Jill Hahn and Billy Hulting, co-producers of the event, along with the board of directors were upset that the WIFE of Jerry Vlasak had protested Antonio Villaraigosa two years ago at their Worldfest event. Therefore, the North American Animal Liberation Press Office (www.animalliberationpressoffice.org) was banned from Worldfest.

The irony is that the organization banned from having a booth at Saturday's Worldfest event is not a protesting organization and therefore had nothing to do with the protest of Villaraigosa, except for the fact that the wife of a press officer had been one of the participants in the protest against Villaraigosa two years ago.

This incident highlights the petty and retaliatory corporate mind-set that has become Worldfest, an organization willing to exclude animal advocates from their event simply because a family member of that group was unwilling to watch Worldfest honor the man who caused the premature death of Gita, prolonging her imprisonment alone without any stimulation on cement at the LA Zoo.

But a question we should all be asking ourselves now, is why would Worldfest organizers have invited someone who actually has caused harm and death to animals to speak at Worldfest in the first place? We believed before Saturday that it was a complete oversight and mistake two years ago and that Worldfest should be given the benefit of the doubt; but guess what we found out at the end of the day? Worldfest had invited Villaraigosa to speak AGAIN this year! Now we look at the banning of any and all animal rights groups as a badge of honor because what true animal rights organization would want a booth at an event who honors someone who they know is responsible for the harm and death of animals?

But as the righteous say "what goes around, comes around" and this seems to have come true for Worldfest. It seems this year most of the people who paid the ten dollars to go to the event were disappointed by everything from the music to the booths (which included Radio Disney, ING. Inc., the New York Times and the LA Times subscription booths) and said they will not be returning next year.

There is ONE silver lining for the animals however; a source who wants to remain nameless informed ADL-LA that Mayor Villaraigosa's office declined the offer to speak at Saturday's Worldfest event stating he had "other commitments!"

ADL-LA Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. Many of the reports contained in our Action Alerts and on our web site at www.StopTheKilling.net have been received anonymously and the Campaign cannot make any guarantees for the accuracy of these reports. Any views or comments stated in reports, Action Alerts or on the web site are not necessarily the views of STK or ADL-LA.

[Noah]

For whoever has an interest in LA saga, the story goes on.

ADL-LA Notes:(Merritt Clifton doesn't work in an animal shelter, nor is he a statistician; besides he has no background in progressive humane sheltering. In the opinion of many in the Animals Rights movement, Clifton has remained true to the status quo of shelter management developed decades ago; aka "catch and kill." Merritt Clifton writes and edits a newsletter about general animal welfare.)

Forwarded from Edward Muzika to ADL-LA:
(The below is taken from a much longer post by Muzika; ADL-LA kept the pertinent information regarding Ed Boks from his longer post and reposted it below. ADL-LA notes are in parenthesis:)

Ed Boks relies on the statistics of Merritt Clifton, publisher of Animal People to prove he is doing a great job.

Using Merritt Clifton's (completely made up) criteria, NYC, which kills as many animals as LA, is basically no kill because its population is more than double LA’s. Divide 17,000 killed in LA with a 4 million population, compared to 17,000 killed in NYC with a population of 9 million, means NYC kills just as many animals (about 17,000), but less than ½ of LA’s per thousand kill rate. Follow?

(This is the number of animals Boks claims he killed in 2007; however there is no confirmation that this number is based on fact and the majority of LAAS employees who have signed a no confidence petition against Ed Boks claim the death rate is even higher!)

Ed Boks uses Merritt’s ranking of LAAS’ performance of 4.3 killed per thousand about 17,000 in 2007, which gives a performance about 3 times better than the national average of 12.5 animals killed per thousand population.

This measure is ridiculous. For example, if LAAS impounded 17,000 animals in 2007 and killed all of them, it would have a live save rate of 0, a kill rate of 100%, and still have Merritt’s identical kill rate of 4.3 animals per 1,000, which is still 3 times better than the national average.

Therefore, Clifton’s methods and measures are ridiculous. Boks uses them and Jim Bickhart, Robin Kramer, Jimmy Blackman and the Mayor neither understand or care. They accept Boks’ proof and give him an award for being the “lowest no-kill city in the country” according to Villarraigosa.


Merritt Clifton makes these kinds of errors throughout all of his calculations about animal populations, whether pets in the nation’s pounds, or dogs in Calcutta. He does not grasp the concept of city/county/regional boundaries and lumps them all together and extracts whatever conclusions he wants.

I emailed Clifton, questioning his methodology. I questioned his methodology and numbers; I did not offer any alternative methods or opinions. I expected, like all scientists and statisticians, he’d defend his methods by providing numbers and the theories he operated under. Here is Merritt’s response:
“I have no interest in your opinions.
“They are not supported by a significant record of accomplishment.
“That's the bottom line. What I do works, & has worked in
many situations, involving many different species, around the
world.” Merritt Clifton, Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE
A friend of mine emailed me:

“What is it that Clifton does that works?”

My response was, “He gets a lot of people to accept his numbers because neither he nor they have any idea of what they are talking about.”

I have challenged Clifton again on his methodology. When I get a response, I’ll post it. Don't hold your breath though.

In the meantime, just know that nothing that comes out of Merritt’s or Boks’ mouth has any credibility whatsoever.

Clifton knows I was a population demographer and statistician in both the Cleveland and Detroit areas for several years, and am very familiar with population studies and methods.

ADL-LA Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. Many of the reports contained in our Action Alerts and on our web site at www.StopTheKilling.net have been received anonymously and the Campaign cannot make any guarantees for the accuracy of these reports. Any views or comments stated in reports, Action Alerts or on the web site are not necessarily the views of STK or ADL-LA.