Urban Chicken Activists, Unite!

There have been some exciting developments in Chesapeake regarding urban chickens. As I explained in an earlier post, a group of residents has been organizing to get the zoning laws changed in Chesapeake, Virginia, for reasons I outlined in other posts. Our online petition now has more than 330 signatures. We also have petitions in local feed stores and other places. Our petition at Southern States on Military Highway has 24 signatures on it as of the morning of June 9.

Member Andrea Ball Margrave has been organizing our political strategy for City Council. Last night she and many members of the Facebook fan page, 4 Chesapeake Hens, and the group, Backyard Chickens for Chesapeake, met at an informal local political event called a "Town Meeting." Unfortunately, I had another commitment and could not attend. Here is what Andrea had to report, in her own words:

"Very excited tonight! Got a wonderful reception at the Town Meeting, which was packed because of some other issues going on, so I had a larger than usual audience, plus the entire council was present, including the mayor and the interim city manager, plus at least one of the new upcoming council members that I could see, Robert Ike. 

"I was able to put copies of the flyer in the hands of all but two of them as they entered, and handed out over 30 more to attendees. I met at least 4 or 5 members of this group there, but now I see there were more that I didn't meet that were in attendance! WOW! Sorry to miss some of y'all. I of course didn't get to say all that I wanted to say, forgot some of it, but one other gentleman came with his daughter, a Mr. Tims? and spoke up in support of chickens, very funny guy! Thankfully I was able to speak first, because of all the controversy over the other issues there, but I kept it positive and respectful, and I feel they were pretty receptive. 

"As the meeting adjourned my daughter and I stood outside the doors asking for people to sign the petitions, and we got 10 signatures and had some great conversations. A bunch of folks promised to sign online after they got home, using the link on the flyer. Some of the members were in a hurry to leave after the rough questioning of the evening, so I didn't get to speak individually to them all, but those I did speak with had nice things to say about our efforts. One even asked to learn more about it, and I told him I would come to his office to answer whatever questions they had. Overall a successful evening, and a great opening salvo in our quest to secure the changes we seek."

Thanks, Andrea! Great things are happening. All because a group of people got together and decided to give a cluck. ;0)