Letters to Editor

Thank you for your coverage of the efforts of thegroup, Save Our

Strays of Huntington Beach, to convince the City Council to approve the

building of our own humane animal shelter. However, what failed to be

mentioned in the article of Oct. 11, “Strays could suffer budget woes�,

was the strong disagreement Save Our Strays has with the feasibility

study done by Meyer and Allen. This report clearly over-inflated the

operating costs and underestimated the potential revenues. Save Our

Stray’s president, Karen Chepeka, has presented a reportshowing how other

Orange County cities and other counties run their own humane shelters for

far less.

These cities include Irvine, Seal Beach and San Clemente. Also stated

in Save Our Stray’s report, which did not appear in the Meyer and Allen

report is the fact that Save Our Strays is not asking for more money than

is already being budgeted to the County of Orange for their animal

control services. In addition, without a conditional approval from the

City Council, Save Our Strays is unable to apply for grants nor solicit

corporate donations.

Finally, if you attended the Oct. 1 City Council meeting, you would

have heard 12 of the 16 public forum speakers strongly urge the council

to approve this much needed and greatly desired shelter for the loved

pets of Huntington Beach.

MICHELLE MENDENHALL

Huntington Beach

Save Our Strays of Huntington Beach charter member

The question of fiscal responsibility for a Huntington Beach animal

shelter (Strays could suffer city budget woes, Oct. 11) appears to have

been muddled by a well-meaning attempt by the City Council to define its

possible costs and revenues. How ironic it is that the Meyer and Allen

study, meant to explore costs on how to successfully build a shelter,

comes up with numbers so inflated as to silence the project before it

begins.

Huntington Beach pays nearly $450,000 to Orange County for animal

services, and would easily make up an equal amount in licensing fees,

contributions and volunteer services. Shelters similar to the one

proposed in our cities run quite well for that budget, and the $ 2.5

million dollars quoted in the study assumes grossly inflated staff and

budget costs. This figure appears to cut off discussion before it starts.

Animal organizations, such as Save Our Strays in Huntington Beach,

have detailed proposals to show that the shelter can be well run on less

than half of the proposed figure. At the very least the consulting firm

paid so handsomely by the city should be made to defend its numbers and

come up with a modified figure based on similar shelters recently built

in Southern California. It would allow the City Council to look at an

apples to apples approach and make a fundamentally sound decision seeing

both proposals.

At present our animals are being taken all the way to Orange -- more

than 20 miles away -- with a proposed move to Tustin, which is even

farther. The euthanasia rate for these poor animals is unconscionably

high, and anyone who has ever had a pet, looked into a loving, trusting

animal’s eyes, or watched what a difference they make in our lives could

never justify not giving these poor creatures a chance. Our pets help

teach humanity to our children, and that living and loving creatures are

not routinely put to death as throwaway items.

The question is really not how can Huntington Beach afford to build an

animal shelter -- it is how can it afford not to. There is too much at

stake that is nonfiscal in nature. The very competent council

subcommittee should study the alternatives to the bloated Meyer and Allen

proposal and help come up with a streamlined budget that makes the

terribly needed shelter a reality.

ROBERT GOLDSTONE

Huntington Beach

The city should fund a shelter. There are a lot of people and animals

here. We love our dogs and don’t like to see them neglected.

ICEY CINOOCO

Huntington Beach