Proposed New Queens
Animal Receiving Center
As many of our readers know, the City Council recently passed a new law relieving New York City of its long-standing obligation to build animals shelters for the Bronx and Queens. The Bronx and Queens have never had their own animal shelters. The new law ensures they never will.
The law’s supporters claimed that Queens and the Bronx don’t need animal shelters, because so-called “receiving centers” will do just fine. And because most people aren’t familiar with “receiving centers,” the DOH and City politicians think they can get away with this lie.
Ah, but because the City’s Department of Health wants to replace the current Queens receiving center with another old building, we have the perfect opportunity to discuss what receiving centers actually do, and to examine the DOH’s many misrepresentations about the virtues of those centers.
What are “Receiving Centers”?
Bronx and Queens have always been stuck with animal “receiving centers” instead of full-service animal shelters. To understand how these centers operate, just think of homeless dogs and cats as garbage and receiving centers as garbage “transfer stations.” Queens and Bronx residents drop off their garbage bags (i.e., animals) at these local transfer stations. At the end of the day, the garbage bags (i.e. animals) are trucked away to the nearest garbage dump (ACC shelters).
The analogy to our City’s Sanitation Department is apt. Mayor Giuliani and the DOH originally structured the ACC so that the Sanitation Commissioner ran the ACC Board. Animals. Garbage. Both are interchangeable in the eyes of City politicians.
There’s one receiving center in the Bronx and one in Queens. These buildings have always been squalid, small storefronts open only one or two days a week.
The DOH wants to replace the Queens center with another (albeit larger) old building in Jamaica, Queens. The Jamaica building is a former vet clinic. The DOH needs a zoning variance to change the building’s use from a clinic to a center. To get a variance, the DOH must go through a “Uniform Land Use Review Procedure” (ULURP).
The first ULURP hearing on the Jamaica property was held on November 28th.
We’re fortunate that one of our readers attended that meeting and was able to expand on what the sanitized official minutes failed to report. Click here to read the full minutes. This person’s comments as well as those by Shelter Reform are indicated by inserts in blue.
Before attending the ULURP proceeding, our reporter called the Queen’s District Office and was told that the meeting would be about a receiving center that “holds animals for 24 hours until they find a home.”
Hilarious! Receiving Centers never adopt out animals (although converting this vet hospital into a satellite ACC adoption center is a very good idea).
Rather than being adopted out from a receiving center, animals are simply dumped there. They get surrendered by their owners or by good Samaritans who find them as strays. At the end of the day, these animals are shipped off to the nearest overcrowded ACC shelter.
In short, receiving centers are holding pens.
The DOH representative at the ULURP proceeding was Mario Marlino, Assistant Commissioner for the DOH’s Veterinary & Pest Control Services. [NOTE: It’s telling that the DOH lumps veterinary services with pest control.]
Mr. Marlino explained how the receiving center works:
“People would simply bring their animals there and drop them off. The animals will not get boarded overnight. When the day is over, the animals are brought by a van to one of the shelters in either Manhattan or Brooklyn. Once the animals are there, they get adopted out, or go to rescue groups or [cupping his hands together as if to show just how incredibly small] possibly a small portion will be euthanized. (Emphasis added).
[NOTE: Apparently the DOH views the thousands of ACC dogs and cats killed every year as a “small” number. Put differently, we’re talking about an ACC animal facing a 1-in-3 chance of being killed. That’s “small”???]
Marlino compared the current Queens receiving center (in Rego Park) with the proposed Jamaica site. The current center is only 800 sq. ft and can hold only 17 animals. In contrast, the Jamaica site could hold at least 75 animals.
He also claimed that every animal coming into the center would be checked by “medical staff,” and that a vet would be on premises.
[NOTE: It’s a wonder that Mr. Marlino’s nose didn’t start growing like Pinnochio’s when he made those claims. Medical staff? A vet? Not even the ACC’s full service shelters are blessed with a vet every day. And those shelters are responsible for caring for hundreds of animals.
ACC receiving centers have never provided medical care for their animals. Nor does the new law require these centers to start providing medical staff. Mr. Marlino’s nose is awfully lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.]
When a district board member asked “Why doesn’t Queens have a full time facility like the other boroughs?” Mr. Marlino came out with the greatest howler of the evening.
His answer: “City Council made that decision.”
[NOTE: The DOH is trying to cast itself as having absolutely no role in the Council’s decision to jettison the Bronx and Queens shelters. To the contrary, for over 10 years Mayor Bloomberg and the DOH were both quietly urging City Council leadership to amend the law requiring those shelters. Now Mayor Bloomberg’s pal Speaker Christine Quinn (no friend to animals) has finally answered their prayers with this new law: no animal shelters for the Bronx or Queens.]
When asked if a larger receiving center was really needed, Marlino said yes. “Queens is the second highest amount of people bringing animals into the system. … We believe the proposed site will be a benefit to Queens’s residents.”
[NOTE: Mr. Marlino admits that among the City’s 5 boroughs, Queens has the second highest number of homeless animals entering the ACC shelter system. Yet, the DOH ignores the logical conclusion: Queens needs its own animal shelter.]
During the public comment portion of the meeting, one person argued for:
“full service centers around the clock” in Queens and in the Bronx. Full service centers provide vet care for injured animals; they have adoption programs, and keep animals for extended periods of time. She believes the receiving centers will benefit the people in Queens but will not benefit the animals.
Her comment was ignored as the Board voted 5 to 2 to allow the zoning variance.
The full Community Board will be Wednesday, December 14th when, among other things, it will discuss the DOH’s ULURP request. The meeting will be held at 7:30 PM at the Hillcrest Jewish Center, 183-02 Union Turnpike (on the border of Jamaica Estates and Flushing).
Anyone interested in attending or speaking at the December 14th meeting should call the Board’s office at 718 264 7895 for guidelines and to place your name on the list of public speakers.
SUMMARY: Queens and the Bronx still desperately need and deserve full service animal shelters. Hell, even the Mayor’s Alliance and the ASPCA (who negotiated this deal with the City) admit that.
Receiving centers are no substitutes for shelters.
The DOH should purchase the former vet hospital, but put it to a use that can truly help the Queens residents and Queens pet owners.
Why not operate it as a clinic offering free or low cost spay/neuter services for the Queens community?
Or as previously mentioned, why not have the ACC operate it as a satellite animal adoption center for Queens residents?
But for heaven’s sake, don’t let the DOH mislead the public into thinking that a receiving center is the answer for Queens.
No, receiving centers reflect the ACC’s continuing failure at the hands of the DOH and City politicians.
Shame on them all.