An ordinance to allow backyard chickens in Evanston looks cooked, or at least overdone, as aldermen failed to advance the issue out of committee.
Aldermen on the city council's Human Services Committee deadlocked 2-2 Wednesday night on moving the issue to the full city council, which must approve any ordinance.
Committee members could have sent the issue to the council without a majority vote, but at chairwoman Judy Fiske's, 1st, request, the issue was held in committee to allow absent member Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd, to break the tie vote.
City counsel Grant Farrar said procedural language was silent, on what to do in such cases. In the past, committee members have moved some issues to the council for action after failing to reach consensus.
Members of Evanston's Backyard Chicken Committee were disappointed. Chairwoman Ellen King said aldermen appear "to be overthinking a very simple issue."
-Bob Seidenberg, Evanston Review
So you're telling me I have to get rid of my chicken coop in my mom's backyard? What the hell? I need my chickens! If a grown man can't raise chickens in his backyard without getting hassled by the 5-0, what can he do? One thing is for sure, I will be attending the next Backyard Chicken Committee meeting for sure. Or at least joining in via satellite.
P.S. Do people in Evanston really raise chickens in their backyard? I've literally been in hundreds of backyards in Evanston and never seen one chicken. My neighbors once made one of their visiting relatives sleep in a tent outside so he wouldn't steal anything, and they didn't even have chickens.
No comments:
Post a Comment