Local Government

I always thought Ann Perkins was the worst character on Parks and Rec. She was unlucky-in-love, vanilla, and she left the show before it ended. But, in a way, the premise of the show was built around her. It just so happens that one day she decides to go to the city to complain about something, and thus was brought into the world of local government where the world of the show revolves around, which gains her friends and family and a renewed vigor that with hard work, things can improve. I had the opposite experience.

2019

I was avoiding work and scrolling around on my phone. I came across a video of a carriage horse that collapsed in the middle of a street due to exhaustion. It was one of the saddest videos I have ever seen and it brought me right back to the childhood trauma we all experienced watching Artax sink into the ground in The Never Ending Story. God damn, that was the worst. So was this.

I flashed back to a trip to Memphis I took with my friends a few years earlier when we saw a startled carriage horse run THROUGH THE WINDSHEILD of a CAR. In the MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC. It was still stuck in it when our uber pulled away. I was horrified.

I dug deeper into videos, petitions, advocacy groups and other resources. While carrying a carriage is not horse torture, standing long hours in terrible conditions, being hit by cars, lack of shade and water and being worked to the point of exhaustion is. Why the hell are we still doing carriage rides in cities? We have scooters, Ubers, buses, a street car, we have fucking boat tours where they give you a duck whistle, we have drunken peddle wagons. All these things are already in the streets ready to show you all your city has to offer. Why are we exploiting these animals for our entertainment? Ride them in the country on a shady trail and grass.

Within the hour, I had seen monstrous photos of how these horses are kept. Instead of proper shoe care, they spray distracting glitter on their hooves. Instead of room to roam, they are kept in a small city backyard full of mud.

Having turned from sad to angry, I looked up my local city council meeting and it happened to be that very day. So, I cut out work early (not like I was actually getting anything done) and showed up. They open the meeting with public comment, giving each speaker 2 minutes to address the council members. The first two speakers… how do I say this… didn’t really say anything? They had some concerns, I think, but they weren’t specific. They were mainly just shitting on the city and the council but not offering any solutions. Without moving their eyes, the council was rolling them with their body language. I didn’t know what I would say, but when it came to be my turn, I almost cried. I talked about how this industry was failing the horses. I gave statistics and cried my sources. I indicated that it was my first ever meeting, so I asked what could be done?

When I was finished talking and gained consciousness again, one of the council members answered me. He said that this was an issue he also felt strongly about and that we should meet to see what could be done. I left happy and hopeful.

Over the next week, I emailed my availability to meet. It was ignored. I called and wrote more emails. I was told one of the best things I could do was to get support for this, so 30+ of my friends emailed city council and detailed why the carriage horses should be banned from city streets. The emails still were not returned. A month later, the council member who was in support asked for my availability again. I emailed it, and never heard back. So I got pissed off and shot the whole city council an email, basically calling them out. In simple terms, I said:

This is why people don’t believe in the abilities of our local government and do not even try to get involved. Disappointed you can’t even reply to an email.

Most of their offices did respond to this one. They said they will read the rest and get back to me. Months went by, and there were several local city council scandals. PJ Sittenfeld was indicted on charges of honest services wire fraud, bribery and extortion. Other council members were on some sort of non compliant group chat, talking shit about the other members. I get it, they had a lot of stuff going on, and by that I mean they were busy being corrupt. And I know carriage horses are not a priority in terms of all the stuff going on with a city. I know that! It all just reminded me of the mayor from Nightmare Before Christmas. He has two faces, and the one pointed to you is a smile saying, “I care about you and this city.” And the other face is some other bullshit.

2021

I get a DM last week saying that there would be a special committee meeting held that day, and that the original helpful council member would be putting the horse carriage ban vote on the table at the meeting the next day. So upon their request, I came and spoke again. I represented the average concerned citizen in the city and I even had 30-40 people write emails again in support of the ban.

They also had a law professor who specialized in animal cruelty cases and a person who represented local downtown businesses who both spoke in support of the ban. They mentioned the damage the carriage horse industry was doing to the local business, the city infrastructure, and the health of the horses.

The council member had also gone as far as reach out to rescue organization who ensured these animals would not be killed and that they would take care of them. It was all coming together beautifully.

That night they announced the vote and were flooded with support from the community. People were commenting “finally” and “about time” on the instagram account of the news outlet.

The next day, I zoomed into the meeting to watch the vote.

The vote did not pass. 4 people were in favor of the ban, 5 were not.

I’ll see you all in January when there is a new council and a re-vote. Im not an Ann Perkins. I’m a Leslie Knope.