Potential for (positive) legal change

[dkspftw]

So I read this yesterday:

http://gawker.com/de-blasio-to-end-n...-ba-1582566166

tl,dr: NYC's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, is about to overturn NYC's ban on ferrets. I believe this is largely due to the efforts of individual hobbyists lobbying, and I'm not surprised.

A friend of mine actually met BdB at a barbershop, and ended up chatting with him for a while. That friend is, coincidentally, an activist in support of an alternative opiate addiction treatment that is currently in clinical trials. Not only was the Mayor willing to listen to him and take his literature, but he had somebody from his office call my friend the next day to follow up about trials at Columbia.

Point is, it seems like NYC's new mayor is willing to listen to niche concerns of his constituents.

Ball pythons are illegal NYC, but legal in New York State. I believe that now may be a good time to reach out to the Mayor with the aim of getting the city's restriction dropped.

I haven't taken any action yet, but I've begun to plan, and I've emailed the people at Fauna (a great non-mammal pet shop on the Upper West Side) to see if they'd support a petition to Mayor Bill.

It's very rare for bans like this to be reversed, simply because there's rarely any money behind the hobbyists' cause, and we're certainly not any kind of majority anywhere. So it seems like there might be a real opportunity for positive change here.

I welcome your thoughts on the issue!

[olstyn]

Seems like you have little (or nothing?) to lose, and everything to gain. Might as well give it a try. Be as concise and on point as you possibly can be with your initial contact; you don't want to lose them in a wall of text. Presuming that goes well, additional information can flow as needed. Best of luck to you on improving your situation.

[Reinz]

That is a tough one. Especially in such a congested place(understated) as NYC, population 8.5 + million.