Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Speaking to The City Council…again!

The last few two days have been fun days on the chicken front! I got a call from our local paper, The Gresham Outlook, requesting to do an article on our "chicken fight." I said, "Of course!" So I brought my three baby chickens back down to our house so that the reporter and photographer can come and see our chickens in their "natural" habitat and take pictures of our chickens and coop. Then my little babies will go back to their home away from home. It is easiest to move chickens at night, once it is dark, they become very inactive and quiet and docile and very easy to pick up and move. So they are spending the night here and the reporter will come on Wednesday.

The other update I have to give is that I talked to one of the City Council members. The Council is very busy right now planning the budget and "Council Work Plan" for 2009. It isn't realistic to pull staff off of those projects to address chickens. But it is on the list and when things quiet down (in a month or two) they will start the process. Unfortunately, government moves about as fast as . . . well, I can't think of anything that moves that slow! Turtles in a coma? My hope and prayer is to have my chickens back home before next spring. Sooner would be a dream come true but I'm trying to be realistic.

I spoke at the City Council meeting today. Mostly it was to let them know how much support I have received and how many people want to see this code changed. It was also to keep the chickens "on the radar." I will probably speak occasionally to the City Council for the next several months, just to let them know that I'm still here and my chickens aren't!

The Councilor that I spoke to said that they have already received many letters in support (and a few in opposition), so thank you to all of you who called, email, or wrote letters. I really appreciate it! I especially appreciate that the "pro" letters outnumber the "con" letters.

I'll post updates as I get them. And one day soon, I'm going to actually post a recipe or two on this food blog!

Jill

2 comments:

Nancy M. said...

I'm glad so many people are showing you their support! I hope your babies will be home ASAP. That is a smart idea to keep reminding them every now and then.

thecitychicken said...

Keep up the good fight, Jill! I don't know how you do it all! I hope Gresham changes their laws to be like Portland's. Feel free to give any reporter my contact info; I would be happy to put in my two cents.