The Chicken Project: City Council Tables The Issue

Actually this isn't such a bad thing after all (4.00 / 2)

especially since they are going to begin working on revising the city's general plan next year.

The next step is to get involved in the General Plan revision.

I was thinking this is where you want to concentrate your efforts even before I got to the end of your article.

Start finding out all you can about the process, bird dog all of your info sources as to the process so you know when they are choosing people to sit on committees, etc. Especially you should get involved in any part of the process that involves sustainability, and local/healthy etc. foods.

Also, it would be interesting to see if there has been any problems with potbellied pigs or the homing pigeons that the existing revision allowed when it was done 10 years ago, and if you can dig up any of the people who were involved in getting the rules changed at that time. Find out how they went about getting the changes in that revision. It might give you some insight into how to go about getting your changes to allow chickens.

I'd attend city council meetings fairly frequently. Maybe not every single one, unless there are other issues they're addressing that you're also interested in. But keep your self on their radar and offer to help out on projects that might be appropriate for your expertise.

You have an incredibly broad background and I think there could be many assets you could bring to the city council and any committees or projects that may be ongoing or coming up. Does the city have any opportunities for citizens to volunteer on projects or innitiatives?

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 02:31:27 AM UTC

as far as I know (4.00 / 1)

they do call for citizen participation in the general plan revision process so that's a good thing. They can be sure I'll be involved! The only problem is that the city council meetings give me such a migraine!!! I went tonight because I had to and now my head hurts a lot.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 03:02:14 AM UTC

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Our area has been in the midst of a General Plan update (4.00 / 2)

and I think there's a high likelihood of success, especially if you can get multiple people to advocate for it and you don't face much opposition. Citizens are encouraged to get involved, and everything is on the table for potential revision.

There's a yahoo list for chicken keepers in California (CaliforniaChickens@yahoogroups.com) and there's also a pretty large community at backyardchickens.com. I would also recommend you find the nearest 4H club with a chicken group and enlist cute-kids-with-chickens to help.

I think you're going about it well. Good luck!

As it was, he did a deal with a blancmange, and the blancmange ate his wife.

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by: elfling @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 04:07:21 AM UTC

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Can you get some tinted glasses (4.00 / 2)

to help with the migraines? I'm guessing it crappy lighting, right? I used to wear rose colored glasses at this one job because the lighting bothered my eyes.

Sounds like the chicken issue is at a decent point. 2010 is less than 30 days away and now you are getting spontaneous support. The grant they have helps also along with a pretty steady movement in other cities with regards to BYC.

After you get chickens approved, you can start  working on bee keeping  ;)

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by: nycstray @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 04:24:57 AM UTC

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I've got polarized sunglasses (4.00 / 1)

and I wear them AND close my eyes as much as possible. But I have my eyes open a tiny bit and that is enough to trigger the migraine.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

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by: Jill Richardson @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 04:29:49 AM UTC

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Man, that sucks! (4.00 / 2)

Perhaps when the weather is good they could hold the mtgs outdoors and have local food for snacks  ;) Think of all the people they would attract, lol!~

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by: nycstray @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 05:20:27 AM UTC

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All of that and more... (4.00 / 2)

So I guess the council isn't too "chicken" to address the issue after all?  (Had to.)

But seriously, this is a reasonably good sign.  You may not get what you want overnight, but there's at least precedent with potbellied pigs (which is another issue entirely) and pigeons.  More importantly, there's a definitive process and end-date, which makes it less likely that your cause falls through the cracks or gets mired in bureaucracy.  

Seems to me like the biggest challenge is going to be maintaining momentum.  It's awesome that the electeds are getting constituent contact on this issue; now it's time to keep the pressure on, in a polite way.  Think slow, continuous trickle, not 2012-esque tsunami.  

Also, if you get a story in the Union-Tribune, it would be a good thing if you could dragoon a few folks to write some letters to the editor in support in a the days after the story hits.  There's obviously an editorial process that decides what is "news," and one gauge that editors use of where the community's interest is is the amount of LTE traffic they get.  It's only one gauge, and obviously YMMV.  Still, it's a fairly low-impact thing to do and could make it easier to get coverage on this issue in the future.

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by: doubleM @ Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 03:17:54 AM UTC

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