"I think I ruffled some feathers"!

A great quote from the Councillor for Ward 2 Jason Farr Thursday at a special meeting for the "Responsible Animal Ownership By-Law". Surprisingly only a handful of people were on hand. More surprisingly the by-law as redrafted by City staff does not include a definitive number of animals per household as did the old Hamilton by-law which was two. For tarantula owners three "docile" members of that family (non venomous) are back in as are pythons and anacondas as long as they don't grow more than 3 metres (nine feet). Frankly I don't care how long they grow I'm not going to be caught dead anywhere near them. Where the feathers hit the fan was over the issue of "Urban Chickens" a growing trend for those who have issues with who and how their food is grown. In other words people who want their eggs taken by their own hand and not purchased at a grocery story. Last November this very committee after listening to delegations decided to ask staff to further research Urban Chickens vs rural and come back with recommendations on how chickens might be handled in a city environment. The staff work had begun but at the urging of Ward 12 Councillor Lloyd Ferguson that work came to an end, at least at the Committee level with a motion to rescind that request from back in November. Council still needs to make a final decision but it was clear even from those who supported the staff work and who lost a 4 - 3 vote that ultimately and certainly two of those votes would have gone against Urban Chicken raising. Farr was the most passionate councillor on the issue of researching the entire issue before making a decision. But as Ferguson pointed out if ultimately we're going to turn down Urban Chickens why waste staff's valuable time. That swung the fourth vote towards rescinding which came from the Councillor for Ward 14 Robert Pasuta who is a farmer and who has raised, hogs, dairy cattle and chickens on his operation. Although open to discussion in the beginning he decided on the second go round of councillor comments to end the staff work stating there was never any way he was going to vote for urban chickens so "let's deal with it now". Urban chickens my friends, will not be crossing the road. Up next is a public works committee meeting on Monday which I will be attending that deals with the thorny issue of what to do with our garbage for the next five to ten years. The underlying current to watch for is a desire by councillors to make sure this is the last time for a while that the issue is debated, letting taxpayers get used to a system that doesn't change every year. I will be on an almost daily basis updating you on council issues. As well I will be hosting Cable 14's For the Record, Council Edition beginning Thursday the 19th. Our first guest the Councillor for Ward 9 Brad Clark. Hope you'll join us on the 19th at 5pm.