We are about to lose our 121 year old animal shelter for yet another sacrifice to the almighty dollar which will benefit few and harm many. The Palo Alto Animal Shelter is an invaluable community asset. Many people throughout Palo Alto and the surrounding cities have availed themselves of the services there, including adoption of pets and the spay/neuter clinic. If one of our animals has gone astray, we know that we can count on Palo Alto Animal Shelter to care for our pet if found and returned, and that they will do everything possible to return the animal to its rightful owners. Many of us and our children have volunteered community service hours at the shelter. Indeed, there is usually a waiting list for volunteers!

We have amazing animal services, and we should not lose the shelter to more expansion of business and retail. We have a beautiful shelter on the edge of the Bay lands. It is a shelter where healthy, friendly dogs and cats and a host of small animal companions enjoy no time limit to their residency while awaiting their forever home. It is a shelter which also provides affordable spay/neuter services to the Northern end of Santa Clara County. An extension of business/retail to that already congested area would cause more traffic problems, and sully the beauty of that portion of the Frontage Road.

The time to fight back is now. Palo Alto City Manager James Keene is hell bent on destroying the shelter and replacing it with Anderson "Big Dog" Honda. He is counting on the people of Palo Alto not taking notice while he completes this ignoble action. Come out now Palo Alto if you value your Animal Shelter. James Keene is on the brink of taking it all away. The Palo Alto Animal Shelter is a community treasure, and in the second wealthiest city in the country, surely there is a way to keep it where it is and viable for a good many years to come.