CITY’S BEST BET COULD BE VETS
Chicago dog owners may soon be able to purchase city licenses for their pets at their veterinarians’ offices, after their dogs are vaccinated for rabies.
Last year, the city sold just 18,015 dog licenses, even though Cook County records showthat 91,000 Chicago dogs have been vaccinated for rabies.
That’s down from29,396 dog registrations in 2011 and 40,896 in 2013.
“We don’t want to talk about fines yet or enforcement because really, I think people feel very taxed and fined right now,” City Clerk Anna Valencia told aldermen Tuesday at City Council budget hearings.
“But one thing we are looking at is to have an awareness campaign and actually mail these 72,000 [ owners] we have information for [ a notice] just encouraging them to get the license.”
Ald. Ray Lopez ( 15th) urged Valencia to boost chronically dismal dog licensing by “working with point of sales” at veterinarians’ offices, animal hospitals and shelters where dogs are vaccinated, examined and treated.
“It’s not so much that people aren’t willing or thatwe have to beat them over the head to get it. It’s that we don’t allow the opportunities for them to buy it on site when they’re actually doing rabies vaccinations,” the alderman said.
“… Vets do not want to engage in this activity because it will cost them an extra $ 1.25 of staff time to input information into the computer. But if we’re able to work out a point- of- sale agreement with institutions, would you be open to allowing those sales and adding an offsite service fee, just as we do with currency exchanges for city stickers?”
Kathryn O’Connell, chief operating officer for the city clerk’s office, replied, “I am going to visit my veterinarian in the 41st Ward … and talk to them about what a potential partnership could look like, what a potential pilot program could look like.”
O’Connell said the clerk’s office plans to send renewal notices to licensed dog owners. That’s something that has not been done for the last five or six years.
Lopez also suggested providing a “benefit to licensing.”
“As of right now, other than forking over $ 5 or $ 50, there is really no known benefit to having a pet license in Chicago,” he said.
Also during Tuesday’s hearing, African- American aldermen renewed their longstanding claim that the municipal identification program created to help undocumented immigrants come “out of the shadows” was a “waste of money.”
The criticism got so repetitive, Budget Committee Chairman Carrie Austin ( 34th) tried to cut it short, saying: “All those who think it’s a bad idea, raise your hand.”
Valencia wants another $ 1 million and two staffers to implement a program that already has cost $ 1 million.
Valencia also disclosed that Chicagoans will soon be able to live- stream City Council meeting on their mobile devices. Even so, aldermen complained that the City Council remains stuck in the Dark Ages when it comes to technology.