http://www.movetoact.org/wordpress/?p=417

For years, Warren Patitz has been an advocate for homeless companion animals in this city -- that's dogs, cats, rabbits, birds -- in short, any lost or abandoned animal. Now, in his blog, he takes his fight directly to Mayor Greg Ballard, for whom Patitz worked as a volunteer.

According to Patitz, when Ballard was running for office, Ballard promised to look into "a proactive spay/neuter plan" for the city/county-run Indianapolis Animal Care and Control on South Harding Street, at Patitz' request.

Writes Patitz in his Sept. 1 post:

"But almost four years later, nothing has changed for IACC. Many of us taxpayers are disappointed to see that mortar and brick and no-bid city contracts seem to have become the order of the day — again.

"We are saddened to see that public money can be found for a North/South (City Way) project ($98M), $33,5M for professional basketball, $12M for renovation of Georgia Street in anticipation of the Super Bowl, and a major renovation of a public safety director’s office, complete with an elite personal security force — yet IACC continues to lack the funds to even maintain adequate sanitation.

"And earlier this year, it was discovered that $54K of donations made by private citizens to aid desperately underfunded IACC somehow disappeared into the general fund"

Building a progressive city really is about more than sports and streets and safety -- it's about education, kids, libraries, fair wages for hotel workers and, yes, animals.

Patitz says it best:

"There are many ways in which tax dollars are spent to improve the quality of life in our community. To provide an acceptable, safe and clean facility where homeless companion animals can be cared for and adopted would cost a mere fraction of the amount spent on major downtown renovation, bike lanes and other improvements, but it would show that Indianapolis regards all living things worthy of decent and humane treatment. And it would be a solid investment in another part of the city’s infrastructure."

Will his plea fall on deaf ears? He speaks of the frustration felt by those who work for IACC, and the disillusionment of voters who care about this issue. Is Ballard listening? Is Melina Kennedy? Someone, please respond....

Thanks to Warren and others for continuing to publicize the plight of IACC, its employees and the animals who deserve better.