Past
Legalization Efforts
Council
Member Kathyrn Freed's Bill to Legalize Ferrets
What
to do if your Council Member did NOT vote "Yes"
My
Council Member Did NOT vote "Yes"
Now what do I do?
If
your Council Member did not vote "Yes" at the May 9th
vote, then YOU are the one with the power to legalize ferrets
right now!
Since you live in the district
of a Council Member who did not vote "yes", YOU are
the one with the power to legalize your ferrets right now or to
simply not bother. Everybody else does not have the power that
you have at this time. It's up to you. Don't wait for a "more
convenient" time to do this. It's now or... "maybe next year."
If you've thought that your one letter or phone call wouldn't
make that big a difference, we're telling you that we need your
letter and call now and that
yours will very likely be THE one that enables this bill to pass.
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Why didn't some
Council Members support the bill?
Some Council
Members are going to side with the Mayor no matter what, and they won't
change their votes no matter what anybody else says or does. That's just
politics. But there are other Council
Members who are openly admitting that the only reason they didn't
support our bill is because nobody in their district cared about
it.
After speaking with the offices of many
of the Council Members, who did not vote "yes" it became very
clear that many of the Council Members who voted against our bill or abstained
did so because, although some of them had received letters asking them
to vote yes, no one in their district had contacted them and asked
them to support the bill to legalize ferrets. Those are the people who
matter most to them. One office even said -politely- "I doubt that anyone
in our district has a pet like that."
There are many people who did contact their
Council Members and in most cases, as a result of those calls or letters,
those Council Members voted "Yes." Some people even wrote to
other Council Members as well and that too was helpful. However, there
are some Council Members who are really only interested in hearing
from the people who live in their district. The people that they were
elected to represent. -Even if everybody else in NY contacted them,
nobody from their district contacted them and those are
the people with the power change those Council Members minds.
We only need 8 more
votes.
Ferrets could be legal by the end of this
month if 8 more Council Members support our bill. If we don't get those
8 votes, we'll have to start all over again next year. It's taken over
2 years for us to get to this point and it's still possible for us to
win this right now but we need 8 of the Council Members who voted
"no" or who "abstained" to change those votes to "yes".
Call
your Council Members office today.
- Tell them you are a member of their
district (*VERY important to state up front)
- Tell them you're calling about the ferret
bill (Intro 627-A)
- Tell them you'd like them to support
the bill and that you heard they did not vote in favor of it the last
time.
- Tell them (nicely and respectfully)
that you'd like to know what the Council Member's reasons were for not
supporting the bill last time. Tell them you'd genuinely like to know
because this bill is important to you and, as a member of the Council
Member's district, you'd like the opportunity to gather information
to address those issues or concerns as quickly as possible.
- Ask if it would be possible for you to
meet with the Council Member in person. If you are able to set up a
meeting, let us know and we'll try to attend the meeting with you so
that we can answer additional questions the Council Member may have
about ferrets or the ferret bill. Email
us with the date, time, and location of the meeting, as well as
a phone number where you can be reached and well do our best to
attend.
- If you speak with your Council Member
on the phone, write down any questions or concerns the Council
Member had about the bill. If you don't know the answer to a specific
question, don't make it up! Let them know that you're uncertain about
the answer and that you'll find out the information and get back to
them. Then contact NYC Ferrets.Com
and we'll provide you with the additional information, studies and figures
that you need.
- Write your Council Member a letter after
you call and thank them for speaking with you. Remind them that as a
member of their district you'd like them to vote in FAVOR of
legalizing ferrets in NYC. Or, write them a letter letting them know
(respectfully) that you're a member of their district and you've been
trying to reach them because you'd like them to legalize ferrets in
NYC -and then explain why. (Make sure you've called too. With the deadline
approaching, calls may be more effective at this point.)
*Remember
- You do not need to currently own (or
admit to currently owning) ferrets to have an opinion on this issue.
You could be thinking of owning a ferret in the future, or you may have
owned one in the past, or you may have friends who own them. Don't let
"fear of exposure" keep you from contacting your Council Member.
- Its perfectly acceptable to let
your Council Member know that you've never contacted a Council Member
or any official before but that youre doing so now because this
issue is very important to you.
- Other people in your immediate neighborhood
also live in your Council Members district! Have
them call and write to the Council Member as well.
If your Council Member decides to change
their vote to a "Yes" let
us know. If we can confirm
that we have enough votes to pass this bill, we can persuade the Council
to schedule an override vote. If we cannot confirm that there are enough
votes to pass the bill, the override vote will not be scheduled and we
will lose our opportunity to legalize ferrets at this time.
Help
Us Keep Kathryn Freed in Office
Kathryn Freed
is the sponsor of our bill to legalize ferrets. Once you've contacted
your local Council Member, we could also use your help to get
Kathryn on the ballot for NYC Public Advocate. We only have until
July 10th to do this and it's important for us to keep Kathryn in office,
especially if our bill doesn't pass this year.
<--More
about Kathryn Freed's Bill to Legalize Ferrets
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