Winograd's Letter of Support for Barnette Sent to Mayor

July 1, 2010

The Honorable Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor,
And Members of the Los Angeles City Council
200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dear Mayor and Members of the Council,

Congratulations on the selection of Brenda Barnette to head Los Angeles Animal Services (LAAS). Although we do not know her intimately, we are familiar with her work and believe it is welcome news for the City. 

Her achievement of a better than 90% save rate for the Humane Society of Seattle-King County, which contracts for animal control services with the City of Renton, Washington, and her prior work with other premier No Kill shelters including the San Francisco SPCA make her a good choice for the position.

As a vocal critic of LAAS, particularly the lack of qualified, compassionate, and capable leadership that have plagued the department, we are not naïve and we realize that Ms. Barnette has her work cut out for her. But we also believe that Ms. Barnette offers more hope than the animals of that department have had under any other General Manager. And while none of us can foretell what the future holds, if in fact she does not succeed, it will not be because of her leadership; rather, we believe it will be because of a failed bureaucracy that did not give her the latitude and tools to do the job humanely.

We, therefore, not only encourage you to support her unequivocally, we urge you not to stand in her way as she works to reform a very troubled and dysfunctional department. In doing so, not only will you be giving the people of Los Angeles a department that lives up to its rhetoric and that they can finally be proud of; you will be offering the animals the opportunities that have historically been denied them, but that they so richly deserve.

Very truly yours,
            
Nathan J. Winograd