Video about Missoula Chicken War

[SAZLife]

Quote:
It appeared to me that the kid that made this statement was .....like.....totally stoned.

 

[MTchick]

I gave up on the forum in the interest of spending less time online. But I have to comment on this one!

Not only am I in the video several times (no, I am not the one that eats her chicken) but I was on the Missoula City Council Urban Fowl Subcommittee.

The whole thing is insane. I will sum up for your edification what roughly happened...

- Residents of the city approached a liberal councilwoman and asked her to look into making an ordinance that permitted small, all hen, flocks.

- She did the right thing- she listened to her constituents and made a subcommittee to research the matter. The subcommittee met several times with animal control, public health, and some agricultural types. Then, the subcommittee made a formal ordinance recommendation, which went up for public viewing and comment.

To make this short... then the chickens got out of hand.

- The whole thing became a bizarre election issue here in town and got blown insanely out of proportion.

- In late August the city council had a public hearing that turned into a total circus. I won't get too into it, but we had people selling "I'm Pro-Chicken and I vote" tee-shirts at the door, people talking about how poor people could raise nutritious food this way, people in tears about how chickens are gonna kill their children, and a guy talking about how the sound of chickens next door will destroy
his life. I kid you not. It was unreal.

- The vote got caught in some weird bureaucratic nonsense hole, and so instead of solving it then (it would have passed had it been voted on right then), the ordinance got sent back into a different committee.

- The different committee is chaired by a very conservative anti-chicken guy, so the ordinance stalled out in committee in September and is trapped there until the new council takes its seats.

- The very conservative anti-chicken guy, and just about all of his anti-poultry co-horts that were running for re-election, LOST their seats last week in the November city elections.

- The upcoming city council now appears more than 2/3 majority pro-chicken. Now all we have to do is wait for the new council to start (January 1st I think) as we should be on a much better path to the chicken ordinance passing.

Are people here in Missoula crazy? Maybe.

Was the squinty eyed anti-chicken guy stoned? Not a bad guess.

Is that MY beautiful Barred Rock coming out of our coop, labeled "Ladies", in the video? HECK YA!

Also- if you read the comments by Paul Hubbard, you'll clearly see that the pro-chicken forces here are very well educated, spoken, and researched. It is only the influences of ignorance and fear that kept this ordinance from passing. Time should fix all...

-MTchick

 

[SAZLife]

Classic! I laughed out loud at that "Ladies" sign on the door!

 

[domromer]

Thanks for the background info. I hope it goes well for you.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Wow MT. Thanks for that.

It's interesting how the conservative/liberal differences vary. In this part of the
country the conservatives would support the right to have chickens. Then again,
politicians grab whatever platform will get them re-elected. Maybe I'm just biased
since I'm a conservative chicken lover.

How about this? "It is our property and if we want chickens on it then that is
our right. We don't have to justify why we want them. The opposition needs
to prove they are a menace or health concern, something almost impossible
to achieve."

That guy in the video talking about the social consequences of 6 hens needs
a serious thrashing.

Maybe we have the common bond between cons & libs here. Chickens......

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
and that's nothing to Balk at..

get it.. bok bok bok..haha i crack myself up.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Bok Bok



Good post/find Jackie. Chicken Lovers Unite!

 

[SeaChick]

Purple Chicken,
We noticed what you are talking about during our own "fight" with the city here. WE had tons of supporters from the community. The vast majority were not chicken-lovers, per se, but had various reasons to support citizens' owning hens. While the majority (70%?) of those were what you'd call liberals (who came at if from an enivornmental/organic/teach kids where food comes from stance), we also had many dyed-in-the-wool conservatives who talked about land-owners' rights to do as they wished (as long as it wasn't disrupting the community). In our little neighborhood, we had folks coming to meeetings who ranged from the young, hip, Whole-Foods-shopping types to the very serious, neat, conservative middle-aged folk to the older people who simply remembered how nice chickens were and wanted them back in the neighborhood. It was a really honestly heart-warming experience to see how it brought our neighborhood together. Folks who's never have spoken to each other met and came together on this one topic. very cool.
Stacey

 

[PurpleChicken]

That is great Seachick. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JackieK318]

Quote:
Me too! My husband thought I was nutty. As I am struggling with what to put above my chicken door, I thought that was the cutest thing ever.

You know, my neighbors love the chicken noises. Our town is getting pretty large: shopping mecca, million $$ homes, large school district and no one around here is crying "disease" or has been maimed by an attack chicken. I also thought the 'move out of the country to get away from farm animals' was odd. Most dogs make more noise and larger 'messes' than my chickens, so should we not allow them out of country areas?!

How quickly things get out of hand! Live and let live, just be respectful.