XPost: nyc.general, nyc.market.housing 
 From: dogglebe@yahooo.com 
  
 A little something I found out today at the vet's office: 
  
  
 LEGISLATIVE ALERT 
 ATTENTION NYC RESIDENTS 
 NYC PETS IN HOUSING /INTRO. NO. 380 
  
 Knowing of your concern for animals, we are hoping you will take a few 
 moments to contact the legislators listed below to urge them to 
 support Intro. No. 380 to expand the rights of people to keep their 
 companion animals in multiple dwelling apartments in New York City. 
  
 Existing NYC law provides that if a tenant has kept a pet openly for 3 
 months or more with the knowledge of the landlord or landlord's agent, 
 and within this 3 month period the landlord does not commence a legal 
 action to enforce the no-pet clause, the no-pet clause is deemed 
 waived. Until the last few years, this meant that once the no-pet 
 clause was waived, it was waived forever for that tenant. More 
 recently, courts have given landlords the 3 month opportunity to 
 enforce the no-pet clause for each animal the tenant obtains. Thus, if 
 an animal dies and the tenant gets another animal, the landlord has an 
 additional 3 month period to enforce the no-pet clause. 
  
 Intro. No. 380, introduced by NYC Councilwoman Melinda Katz, states 
 that once a landlord waives the no-pet clause in a tenant's lease, it 
 is waived for the duration of the tenant's occupancy in the apartment, 
 not simply for the lifetime of any particular animal. Intro. No. 380 
 also states that persons 62 years of age or older cannot be denied 
 occupancy in or be subject to eviction from a multiple dwelling 
 apartment on the sole ground that they keep companion animals. (They 
 would not need to prove that they had the animal for 3 months.) 
  
 All too often, people are put in the untenable position of having to 
 give up their apartments or their pets, not because their pets are 
 creating a nuisance but simply because their landlords have suddenly 
 decided not to allow pets (or the landlords decided to use no-pet 
 clauses as an excuse to get long term tenants who are paying low rents 
 to move). I'm sure you can imagine the heartbreak for these people and 
 their companion animals. For example, Larry Ostrow, a senior citizen, 
 was ordered by court to remove his beloved 10 pound dog, Waldo, from 
 his apartment, not because of any nuisance but simply because of a 
 violation of a no-pet lease clause. Mr. Ostrow moved into the 
 apartment with a dog and had kept a dog in the same apartment for the 
 more than 20 years he lived there. Yet, since the landlord brought the 
 proceeding against Mr. Ostrow within 3 months of him bringing Waldo 
 into the apartment, the landlord won! 
  
 In your letters you may wish to mention that: 
  
     * Tenants with well-behaved pets should not be placed in the 
 position of having to choose between their apartments or their pets; 
     * Tenants in public housing are already allowed to have pets 
 pursuant to federal law; 
     * Numerous studies point to the health benefits, both physical and 
 emotional, that people derive from having companion animals; 
     * Approximately 40,000 animals are killed at NYC shelters each 
 year. Intro. No. 380 will save the lives of animals who might 
 otherwise be abandoned or brought to already overburdened shelters. 
 Why should beloved pets be killed? No-pet policies promote this end 
 result by adding to the numbers of animals brought to shelters and by 
 reducing adoptions of homeless animals; 
     * Many senior citizens who want to move from their apartments 
 because they live in substandard housing or to be closer to relatives 
 are reluctant to do so for fear that they will be evicted if they take 
 their beloved pets along. 
  
 CONTACT INFORMATION 
  
     * Councilman Gifford Miller: Phone: 212-788-7210; Fax: 
 212-788-7207; 
       E-Mail: miller@council.nyc.ny.us (Councilman Miller is Speaker 
 of the Council and is in a key position to move this bill.) 
     * Councilwoman Madeline Provenzano: Phone: 212-788-7375; Fax: 
 718-518-8443; E-Mail: provenzano@council.nyc.ny.us (Councilwoman 
 Provenzano is chair of the Housing Committee.) 
     * Councilwoman Melinda Katz: (Tell her to make this bill a 
 priority and thank her for her sponsorship): Phone: 212-788-6982; Fax: 
 212-788-7052; E-Mail: katz@council.nyc.ny.us 
     * Your own councilmember: (If you do not know the name of your 
 councilmember or need contact information, go to www.council.nyc.ny.us 
 * You may write to all councilmembers at City Hall, New York, NY 10007 
  
  
  
 Phil 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)