9/23/09

My letter to our Mayor - Received no response :(

Here is a letter I wrote to our Mayor, about Ian and his birds - "Backyard chickens Cause Fuss in Port Boy crushed by city's order to remove 35 birds" CLICK HERE to see story
Or CLICK HERE to read more

Dear Mr Moak,
I am a chicken enthusiast and know a lot about chickens. I am 12. I have 30 chickens.
I have started a Twitter petition to have Ian keep his chickens. There has been a huge outpouring.
I am very active with my chickens in Newburyport, tryingto make the town of Newburyport smarter about chickens. I have taken my birds to the Farmers Market, to the Blessing of the Animals Etc. I want Newburyport to be known as a Chicken Smart City. However, this event with Ian has brought nothing but bad news about Chickens to Newburyport. Honestly the Twitter-sphere is on fire with this story and it is nothing but a bad reflection on the town. It sounds as if we really don't have a clear policy but instead this is the result of an angry neighbor and an unclear policy. It is also possible I don't clearly understand all the issues with the law.

Petition Backyard Chickens in Newburyport - http://301.to/7e7 #backyardpoultry #Newburyport

If there is anything I can do to help resolve this situation I would be happy to do it. I want to have this solved in a positive manner for Ian and for the town.

Thank you so much for your time.



Thanks to @Ari4Newburyport for helping me

2 comments:

Blue Heron Farm said...

It is a bummer when elected officials ignore their mail.

I would suggest you try to make a phone call to talk with a staffer.

Have a few talking points ready on a piece of paper including:

1. What you think the problem is (In this case, unclear position on backyard poultry)

and 2. What you think a good solution would be. (Maybe a volunteer committee to address and draft rules that encourage responsible practices.)

Don't let them finish the conversation until you are sure they have noted your main points.

It will be more and more important for citizens to get active in making changes to outdated restrictions in their cities if we are ever going to make a dent in the problem of not having enough healthy, domestically produced food.

Good luck.

Orren Fox said...

Wow. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! I will do that.

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