Monday, June 1, 2009

urban chickens in Salem no twee agri-fad

Credit goes to Emily Grosvenor coined the term "twee agri-fad" in her excellent rant post on the Desperately Seeking Salem blog about the urban chicken issue now being debated there in Oregon.

What's she ranting about? The "reasoning" (loosely defined) given by the Salem City Council for not simply passing the resolution forthwith. She's done a great job of breaking down each of the "reasoned" points, and I'll let her do the talking:

Argument: But Salem is a capital city…

Answer: Chickens are a go in Olympia, and yet, “there is something about Salem.”

Read: We can’t take care of our yards, our families, our urban livestock.

Argument: But Salem can’t pay to enforce the laws, even if we allowed them… it would be a code enforcement nightmare.

Answer: Cities larger and smaller have not seen increases in chicken infractions.

Read: Salem’s citizens are less trustworthy than the 60% of the nation’s cities that allow chicken-keeping.

Argument: But all the city dogs will start barking at the chickens…

Answer: Um… since when is it my fault if your dog barks at my yard?

Read: Put a dog in a story and it will win every time.

I don’t really have any stake in this game. I’m not going to get a chicken even if this measure ever passes. But I will defend to the death the right to argue with fair-minded reason, which is exactly what these chicken people have done, again and again, at these council meetings.


I don't think Grosvenor's dissecting the comments from the city council apply to Salem's lot alone.

Have you heard something similar by your own town's council in their review of this twee agri-fad aka urban chicken farming? Share it in the comments below.

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