[OKC] FW: Backyard Chickens news

[Shauna Lawyer Struby]

Last minute info! Go to the council meeting if you can. It does make a
difference if the council sees a roomful of people interested in this issue!

 

From: Sara Braden [mailto:srbraden at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 1:05 PM
Subject: Backyard Chickens

Chicken Legalization News!

This has been a busy week in preparation for the City Council meeting on
Tuesday.  I have been waiting to give everyone an update until I had all the
information I needed.  Here goes:

Many people have contacted their City Council member to support this issue.
Thank you to everyone who has done so.  It may not seem like it would make a
difference, but it really does!  If you have not yet contacted your City
Council member, you can still do so.  Call 297-3884, look them up in the
blue pages of the phone book, or send them an email.  Thank you!

The City Council will discuss this issue on May 18, at 8:30 am, at 200 N.
Walker.  If you can come to the meeting, please do so.  All backyard chicken
supporters please meet about ten minutes before the meeting to receive
identifying badges.  Our goal is to demonstrate to City Council that there
are many citizens of OKC who care deeply about the legalization of backyard
chickens.

 I think the meeting will go something like this:  at some point in the
meeting, Sam Bowman will bring up the subject of backyard chickens, and the
two studies will be discussed.  This will not be a vote, but merely a
discussion.  Please don't get discouraged; this is an early, necessary step
in what may be a long, slow process.  Our attitude at this meeting needs to
be one of gratitude, not anger.  The fact that this issue is even being
discussed is a huge success.

 At the end of the meeting I plan to speak to City Council.  I am going to
thank them for examining the issue, briefly address a few concerns related
to the legalization of backyard chickens, and ask if City Council members
have any other concerns.

 This meeting is a big milestone (without your support, this issue would
have been dismissed by City Council), but once it is over, there remains
much to be done.  We need to figure out a way to educate people about
backyard chickens, since the City Council members will vote to reflect the
opinions of their constituents.  Most of the negative comments on the City
Council's survey indicate a profound misunderstanding of the nature of
chickens and the ease with which they can be kept responsibly. For instance,
many people believe that chickens attract insects, are intolerably smelly,
or pollute the environment.  If you have any ideas of how to go about
educating such people, please let me know.

 We also need to do some research into the code enforcement situation in our
peer cities (Austin, El Paso, Ft. Worth, Nashville, St. Louis, Tulsa, and
Wichita).  This would involve interviewing code enforcement officers in
those cities to find out how well their chicken laws work, how difficult
their laws are to enforce, and so on.  If anyone would like to take on that
task, let me know.

 I hope soon to be working with the Planning Department on crafting
reasonable legislation that can be brought to a vote.

 Thanks for your help.  I'm optimistic that we are going about this in the
best way possible.  We just need to be patient and persistent.

 Sara Braden

525-2693

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