IT IS TIME TO GATHER THE FORCES FOR A NEW GROUNDBREAKING?

[EDITION OF THURSDAY/FRIDAY JUNE 27-28, 2024 PetPowellPress] Just about every day of the week that isn’t a holiday we get emails about animals on the clocks while crowded into the big and small shelters all over the area.
It’s a rotten, so-far-unsolvable situation that, though it concerns many people, appears to be ignored by multitudes.
Everyday you, also, Dear Readers, may get a load of emails with the opportunities to help animals on the brink of death at the hands of a human who is paid by taxpayers to do that job….Are the shelters too small? Are the hearts of the residents too small?
Do I want my tax-dollars financing the needless death of animals?
As I was opening animal emails this week I wondered if the City of Dallas might have figured out a way to expands it’s animal-care facility and, indeed, get that national recognition it once desired to get as the premier animal care organization among American’ cities. Did that bond issue proposal fail last fall? I looked for the result online and couldn’t find it — might not have asked Google the right question. I'll keep trying as you read along.
In a moment of daydreaming I went back nearly 20 years. My brain works like that — a slight hint of a happy moment in the past and I’m traveling there at light speed.
Here’s where I landed: In November of 2004 I was one of the spectators on a big ol’ lot at Westmoreland and I-30 when then-Mayor Laura Miller, shovel-in-hand, led the ground-breaking ceremony for what we were calling “the new shelter.”
You may not remember this, but the old shelter was adjacent to the Dallas Zoo and it was a small, smelly, dark and dank place with limited interest in reacting favorable to the animal advocacy community. It was, basically, a “processing
facility” for eliminating unwanted, stray or surrendered dogs and cats. Irony? Across the fence, the Dallas Zoo worked to help save entire animal species.
Back to the gathering on that lot next to I-30 at Westmoreland. Why were we there? Because the city’s dedicated animal advocates had bonded and “gone political” to influence/lead the right people both in office and out of office to support building the shelter that now exists at 1818 N. Westmoreland — just 10 minutes (if the traffic is rolling) — west of busy, energy-filled, money-making Downtown Dallas.
On Nov. 8, 2004, I wrote a report about this gathering for the folks who clicked into readlarrypowell.com. I’m repeating some of those impressions of the event today. Please read on. It was a really nice day in Dallas.
The story read: "Lots of folks turned out for the event, including virtually the entire staff of Dallas Animal Services and their director Kent Robertson who, at the urging of Mayor Laura Miller, got a nice round of applause for the hard work they do under trying circumstances.
“The mayor also praised the various animal groups and supporters that had, through determination and polite arm- twisting, persuaded the city to build a state-of-the-art shelter and adoption center. She cited Skip Trimble, Fred Brodsky, Andy Allen and others from the hardworking Dallas Animal Shelter Commission. Elaine Munch of the Metroplex Animal Coalition came in for a round of praise, as did the faithful rescuers and animal fans who make up the coalition.”
[LARRY ASIDE: You see a few names in the list that have been stilled by the passage of time. Their hard work, powerful souls and love for animals survive in the hearts of many rescuers and advocates who have come along after them — or who walked that walk with them two decades ago.]

I also reported that “there were several dogs there, too, including some darling rascals who are among the dogs one-
woman rescue unit Tawana Couch has pulled out of the city pounds and turned into very charming and adoptable dogs.  The dogs didn't applaud, but, hey, ‘clapping’ wasn't on their list of things to do today.” [LARRY NOTE: Tawana is still hustling to get animals out of Dallas so their lives can be saved and made wonderful in cities in other parts of the nation. Contact the SFCA -- the Society For Companion Animals -- at this LINK.]
After watching this groundbreaking, I wrote, “Look, let’s just admit it -- there was a lovefest on a big spot of bare ground where Oak Cliff and West Dallas are separated by a freeway. You don’t see a lovefest in Dallas all that often. It was a pleasure to be there and a wonder to behold.”
Local dignitaries participated in this great groundbreaking. I reported, "Council member Dr. Elba Garcia was there. I’ve never heard her give a speech when she didn’t cite the importance of education -- I'm with her on this issue. She did it again at the groundbreaking, citing how the new shelter will help educate Dallas residents about the importance of spaying and neutering their pets and taking care of them, too. (Once, at a literacy event in West Dallas, I watched her keep a few hundred kids spellbound as they listened to her own story of her pursuit of education and career. Heck, a few adults were spellbound, too.)”
[LARRY ASIDE: Yes, this was a city-wide celebration/groundbreaking. You could look at each shovel of dirt and already see the promise of the construction of a better future for the animals of Dallas. Perhaps, by influence, animals in other cities, too. That might be daydreaming,

but sometimes daydreams come true.]

For that decades-ago edition of readlarrypowell.com, I also wrote that “It was simply a great thing to see the groundbreaking for this shelter. Dallas has taken a step toward a more humane approach to animals. And that means we’re a kinder place than we were yesterday.
“I’d rather my town be thought of as a ‘kind city’ than a city that is tough on both man and beast. This town is big enough to be kind to animals.
“Years and years ago, Mayor R.L. Thornton advised the civic leaders of Dallas to ‘keep the dirt flyin’. Finally, we’ve got the dirt flyin’ for the new animal shelter. It’s a beautiful day in Dallas.”
The “new” Dallas Animal Services Shelter & Adoption Center opened in either late 2006 or early 2007 — I can’t pinpoint the date right now. Email me at [email protected] if you know.
The "new shelter" has been full of unwanted dogs and cats for a while now. Spay & Neuter and take care of your animals properly — three non-fatal ways to cut down on the number of animals in a city shelter.
When ground was broken for the “new” shelter in 2004, the population of Dallas was 1.2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And now it’s pushing 1.3 million. And all the new residents apparently brought fertile dogs and cats that they set free — because, surely t people already living in Dallas were spaying and neutering their animals and keeping them lovingly confined to households and safe yards. Right? Yes, I wisecrack now and then.
Here’s the link for a report I titled “Good Day for a Groundbreaking.”
We've also got a link to the Dallas Animal Services pages where you can click your way to adorable, available dogs and cats that will stand a better chance of surviving in Texas if you’ll adopt them rather than let them try their luck in the care of Big Ol’ Dallas, the city that named it’s airport “Love”
Click on this link where you’ll see “ADOPT” and click there and you’ll be sent immediately to a place where you can navigate to adoptable dogs and cats. We’ve used some Dallas shelter dogs and catds to illustrate this edition. You'll have to go to the website to see their full bios -- and how to adopt them.
Now, once again, anybody remember what happened to last fall’s bond proposal to finance building a larger, more modernly efficient animal shelter in Dallas. I went looking for the result online but only found examples of moaning and groaning. Maybe the newcomers to town would like to pitch in and get that new shelter built — perhaps in honor of the hardworking people who got the “old” shelter built nearyly a quarter of a century go. That's a lot of dogs and cats in human years.

— Offer ideas and hope by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing [email protected] make that subject line read “Save ‘em ALL!”