Strange bedfellows, indeed
Seems i'm on the same side as Lavonia Allison and Victoria Peterson in the Great Chicken Debate of 2009.
Labels: chickens
About
Since 1949, Durhamites have slept soundly, secure in the knowledge that, in our town, erection can be depended upon. Now, thanks to the power of the internets, we can spread that security all over the world.
About Me
- Name: Barry
- Location: Durham, North Carolina, United States
For such an enlightened, tolerant guy, I sure get pissed off easy. Contact: DependableErection AT gmail DOT com
6 Comments:
are you scared of us Latinos sacrificing chickens and spraying blood all over the place?
By
Moe Rivera, at 10:16 AM
Not at all.
I have a high degree of certainty, however, that there will be plenty of people of whatever ethnic background who will not abide by the oh so carefully worked out guidelines and will, in fact, keep noisy roosters in residential neighborhoods.
Hell, there are already people keeping roosters in residential neighborhoods. I have no idea what their ethnicity is, and frankly, i don't care. What i do care about is the inability of Durham's bureaucracy to enforce the minimal quality of life standards that we've all agreed on.
Noise is one of those issues that, through various parts of the code of ordinances, we've agreed needs to be kept to a minimum. that doesn't happen in Durham, with the possible exception of a very few neighborhoods. Why do you want to make that worse, and give our already overworked enforcement personnel even more shit to deal with?
And why would you even want to inject ethnicity into this debate?
By
Barry, at 2:51 PM
D.E-
I agree with you whole heartily. Another rule is just another rule unless you can actually police it. I hope you can follow what I am saying... Next door to me, is a person peddling mattresses and household appliances and next to that is a borderline liquor house. Both moderately illegal, but I don't see Durham dropping down the hammer on these greedy landlords who allow such behavior. I have found in my short time here that Durham tends to overlook quality of life issues. I live on a pretty busy street in OND too, but I just assume that there's more criminal activity that supersedes entrepreneurship. I think we should be having city council and county commissioner meetings on REAL issues, not barking, chained dogs or chickens. Real issues that need to be addressed like blatant slum lording. Problem with that is that the majority of these "elected officials and community leaders are the landlords I oppose. I chose to live here and I knew what I was getting into, but I rather live next to a person who keeps chickens and believes in sustainability to a destructive person who wants to keep barking dogs chained.
Whether we agree or disagree about chickens, Durham seems to bring ethnicity into the mix. It's like the trump card, when you run out of reasons to argue. Whether during the meeting, it was Clement's questioning of black support or Victoria's alluding to Latino culture of sacrificing chickens, it was points that didn't help the opposition. Whatever happened to tolerance of a neighbor? If our neighbors want chickens can we give them chickens? Too bad our neighbors are renters and the home owners live in Chapel Hill or Raleigh, which have no anti-chicken laws.
-Big fan of your erection
By
Moe Rivera, at 3:32 PM
Actually, i think quality of life issues tend to be important.
Without getting into who is responsible, the tenant or the landlord, shouldn't everyone, regardless of income level, be entitled to live on a block on which speed limits and reasonable peace and quiet is maintained?
We have zoning laws for a reason. Why should you move into a residential neighborhood and discover that your neighbor is running a retail establishment that attracts all kinds of traffic? and worse, if you point it out to the relevant authorities, they'll tell you it's up to you to pursue the issue, provide the evidence, yadda yadda yadda?
Chances are, that retail establishment isn't paying business or sales taxes either. Which means they're putting a burden on the city's services, without providing adequate compensation for it. Which then means that either people who really need the city's services have to do without, or people who don't game the system that way end up paying more than their fair share. Once enough of that starts to happen, people get tired of that, and move to other places where it's less of a problem.
I've got a neighbor about a block or so away from me running a distribution business out of his driveway. Certain times of the day, there will be 8 or 9 SUV's parked all over the place, along with a window van and an 18 foot delivery truck. Forget about it if you're a pedestrian on that block, as there are no sidewalks. Only a matter of time before someone gets hit by a car over there. But i know that reporting it to the Planning Department (since it's a zoning violation to run a business of this kind out of your home) won't result in any action.
Quality of life issues are just another way of saying 'broken windows." Durham talks a good game when it comes to "broken windows," but i haven't seen any evidence that our leaders actually understand how to put it into practice. And once all those creative class types who seem to be moving here in droves figure that out, they'll be heading back to Portland on the next flight.
As someone who's spent a good portion of the past 7 years living next to people with dogs, chained or otherwise, barking continuously, i don't know if i could handle the extra nuisance of a rooster crowing in my backyard at 3 in the morning.
Capon stew, anyone?
But seriously, there's a reason why i've confined my opposition to the chicken ordinance to a few blog and listserv posts. You can probably figure that out.
By
Barry, at 3:48 PM
So many problems with no resolution in sight. I wonder what's next for the council. In my six short months in Durham i have seen dog ordinances, sex shop bans, chickens, and luncheons. Not very productive, if Durham was my employee i would fire it. I live down the street from drug dealers and boarded up houses, I see prostitutes on the streets, someone keeps throwing used tires in our backyard, and people drive 65 down my 25-mph speed limit street...... These are "broken window" issues but we focus on chickens. Election year is this year, so my spirits will not be broken. Barry, Do not be defeated and agree with the devil.
-voting for Barry,
By
Moe Rivera, at 4:21 PM
If nominated, i will not run.
If elected, i will not serve.
By
Barry, at 4:31 PM
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