RISE AND SHINE for sustainability this Monday night!

One of the most important emergency preparedness steps Salem could take is promoting poultry keeping. Image by thomas pix via Flickr

The long ordeal over letting a little common sense prevail is --- with luck --- drawing to a close, and the Salem City Council will consider three separate means of permitting a few urban hens in single-family-residential zones.

Please attend -- and bring your children, parents, and friends to pack City Hall with advocates for urban hens. The Salem City Council can't quite bring itself to think that people in Salem are every bit as competent or as neighborly as people in almost all other cities in Oregon, despite this low opinion of us reflecting poorly on them and us both.

Monday, October 26, Salem City Hall, Room 240 (Council Chambers) 6:30 PM
Please come and show your support!

THIS IS IT! There are three draft chicken ordinances to be voted on Monday night by our elected officials. It's a bit complicated, but you can read for yourself the various options by going to the following website and clicking on the third Future Report listed:

http://www.cityofsalem.net/CityCouncil/FutureReports/Pages/default.aspx.

Five pro-hen speakers are lined up to address important issues. Nobody else has to speak if you don't want to. In fact, it might be best to keep the number of speakers down to a minimum because they are tired of hearing about chickens. But we definitely need to fill the room with people so that when I ask all supporters to stand, the Mayor will see that we have NOT lost momentum or support. At the September 14th meeting she said the chicken issue is "losing momentum to show there's enough community support and therefore Salem is just not ready for chickens." Let's prove her wrong!



(Almost didn't post that clip because of the crowing, which of course won't be an issue in Salem, because the proposed ordinances all forbid roosters, which urban hen keepers don't need as the hens are for eggs and as pets, not for breeding.)

Also, this Saturday (October 24) there will be a 350 Health Faire at the Tea Party Book Shop on the corner of Liberty & Ferry from 10:00 to 5:00. Chickens In The Yard (C.I.T.Y.) will be there recruiting support and selling our Viva La Chicken Revolution T-shirts and window decals. Please consider stopping by and picking one up. (And wearing it to City Hall Monday night!)

Thank you.

Coal is the Meth of the Energy World

"Cheap" coal comes with (a very, very conservatively estimated) $62 BILLION dollar annual hidden price tag.