The Lie that Boks was Fired Will Not Die.

As I have said before, it seems half my blog is devoted to confront and rebut the false allegation that Ed Boks was fired from NCYACC last year, a charge made first by Annette Stark in an early April 2006 article in LACityBeat and made repeatedly by the ADLLA since.

(http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3537&IssueNum=148)

She was quoting the headline of a story wriiten by Lisa Colangelo, a friend of Boks, on December 6, 2006.

http://www.nydailynews.com/12-06-2005/news/story/372067p-316496c.html

The headline of this short 132 word article was:

"Animal Care chief booted"

However, if you look at the contents of the article it says:

With little public input, the Animal Care and Control Board decided yesterday not to renew the contract of Executive Director Ed Boks.

City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, who heads the board, said the decision was mutual but declined to explain why Boks was being let go.

"The board deeply appreciates the service and the accomplishments that Mr. Boks has provided and achieved in his two years," Frieden said after the board met in closed session to discuss the contract.

The decision sparked an outcry from some animal advocates.

"This organization is going to turn back into a meat grinder," said Brian Kilcommons, an animal trainer who volunteers with the AC&C, which runs city animal shelters.

Frieden said the city is still committed to reducing the number of unwanted animals that are euthanized.

Lisa L. Colangelo

Originally published on December 6, 2005


The true story is that Boks had accepted the job offered by Mayor Villaraigosa in mid-November of 2005 after having been in negotiation for some weeks before that. NYC policy regarding the non-renewal of Boks’ two-year contract, was that the AC&C Board was required to, by vote, end the contract. A City attorney was present at this December 4 or 5 meeting of the Board to make sure all T’s were crossed so as to meet the City’s legal requirements. Boks’ contract with NYC was to end on January 15, 2006.

As Colangelo’s article said, the head of the Board said the decision was mutual. Ed was not bounced.

Lisa was horrified by the headline, which she did not write.

Boks started his job as GM on January 3, 2006, after spending two weeks of vacation time looking over the LAAS before he started.

On that same day, Lisa Colangelo published a much longer, 404-word article on Ed leaving to take the job in LA:

Shelter big takes 'no-kill' race to L.A.

by Lisa L. Colangelo, New York Daily News

Thursday, January 3, 2006

Former Animal Care and Control Director Ed Boks is hoping a little friendly rivalry will save lots of homeless animals in both New York and Los Angeles.

Boks, who is slated to take over Los Angeles' controversial Animal Services Department this week, said the two cities should compete to see which will become "no-kill" first."No-kill," the high bar for animal shelters, means that healthy, adoptable animals will no longer be euthanized simply because there is no one to adopt them and no more space at the shelters to keep them.

"It's about consciousness-raising," Boks said. "This is one of the few social problems with a very simple solution."But Animal Care, which contracts with the city, receives only about $7 million for animal control services every year. And unlike other nonprofit animal rescue groups, it cannot turn away any unwanted or stray animals.

Last month, Boks and the board announced a mutual agreement to let his contract expire, and he accepted the job in Los Angeles.

Although adoptions increased and euthanasia rates dropped during Boks' two-year tenure in New York, he said the lack of funding made the job difficult. And he is worried about the city following through on its commitment to become "no-kill."

Boks urged the Animal Care and Control board, which is chaired by city Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, to boost funding to the point where "AC&C can provide the level of services New Yorkers expect and deserve for themselves and their pets." (Comment: the NYC funding was less than half of LAAS.He said he hopes the upcoming budget negotiations "don't fall through the cracks."

Boks faces new, even tougher challenges as he takes over Animal Services in Los Angeles. The former general manager was fired — a move that bitterly divided activists in the animal care community.But Los Angeles has a larger budget and six shelters — twice as many as in New York City.

Jane Hoffman, head of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, said she is confident that Animal Care and Control will continue in the right direction, noting that Mayor Bloomberg stood at a press conference last year and said the city was moving to a "no-kill" goal.

"We do feel more funding needs to be devoted to AC&C," Hoffman said. "But we also have to make sure the money they do receive is properly allocated and does not replicate existing programs."


Me: Is there ANY information in either article that indicates Boks was fired outside of the headline that Colangelo did not write?

Now it appears that a repetition of this lie will come from a new source, a new friend of ADLLA who has much to gain financially if Ed is forced out. More later.