David Grimes Offers to Help with Sarasota Chicken Enforcement

Resourceful humor columnist David Grimes, possibly fearful of the trajectory of print media, is testing the waters with a possible career change as chicken cop. Of course, chicken enforcement in Sarasota may not have much of a future if some other communities are any indication.

Seattle is apparently a hip city somewhere left of Chicago that is best known for the Space Needle, a large object loosely based on the parachute jump at Coney Island. Seattle recently increased the number of chickens residents can have from three to eight --probably a desperate effort to retain work for their chicken enforcers. They must be trying to get to a number of hens high enough to provoke a reaction from neighbors, most of whom are employed as extras on Grey's Anatomy.

And those assigned to chicken enforcement in Fort Collins Colorado are thinking of trading places with Maytag repairmen -- out of 12,000 animal control calls in 2009 only 3 were chicken related. Other calls were for oxygen for chickens too rapidly relocated from Florida.

Cary, North Carolina has had similar dismal results keeping chicken enforcers employed -- less than .3% of their animal control calls were chicken related. Grimes only hope is that Sarasota is significantly more dysfunctional than dozens of other cities that allow backyard hens.

Feds Drop the Ball on Egg Safety

Today's Sarasota Herald-Tribune features a front page story: Tainted Eggs and Fractured Oversight that reveals that in addition to mismanagement at two large Iowa egg farms that sickened 1,900 people, the federal government did not have rules on safe egg production until this past July! Among the findings mentioned in the story:

• "There are more than 15 federal agencies and 71 interagency agreements dealing with food safety. Experts in public health and government accountability say that fragmentation weakens oversight, wastes tax dollars through redundancy and creates dangerous gaps."

• Both Bush and Clinton administrations stalled rules.

• The company responsible for the salmonella outbreak operates 73 different egg production facilities.

• "The health of chickens falls under the USDA, but the FDA oversees the safety of whole eggs. Once an egg is broken and made into an "egg product" responsibility for its safety switches back to the USDA."

• "Over the past five years, the FDA has sent inspectors to just a handful of more than 4,000 egg farms in the country. . ."

• "From May to August this year, USDA officials did not pass along to the FDA concerns about sanitation problems that they had noticed repeatedly in the packing houses at Wright County Egg . . . dirty equipment, unsanitary cooler and storage areas, eggs left unrefrigerated overnight, and the presence of bugs. . ."

No wonder citizens concerned about food safety are interested in having more control over their eggs!

Sarasota CLUCK podcast from WSLR Local Matters show

Listen to a podcast of a local radio show Local Matters on WSLR. The show starts with in interview with Jono Miller, one of the founders of CLUCK, who discusses the local effort to re-legalize a few hens in the City of Sarasota.

CLUCK blog sets new record: 1,000 pageviews in 12 days

I hope you weren't expecting a long article. We're just pointing out that on November 28 we posted an entry CLUCK by the Numbers stating that there had been 3,102 pageviews so far.

On the morning of December 10th, we passed 4,102 pageviews. We're talking 83 pageviews a day for the last twelve days and while there is no proof these readers are all supporters, it is hard to believe rank and file chicken opponents or alektorophobes are going to lavish a lot of time on the blog.

And while the internet does make is possible for people all over the planet to access our blog (See Local Info Source or International Curiosity?), we suspect the vast majority of interest originates here in Sarasota, reflecting the growing acceptance of backyard hens as a legitimate and valued part of our community.

Chicken Coop Setbacks: Clearing the Air

A lot of misinformation has been circulating about appropriate setbacks from property lines when it comes to chicken coops and runs. [The runs are basically chicken lanais that allow them access to the ground, fresh air, and sunshine during the day, but not as much protection as is needed at night in the secure coop.]

Part of the confusion stems from testimony at the City Planning Board, where one board member stated, inaccurately and without contradiction, that a study provided by the planning staff said "And in the materials about other ordinances from other locations they say the average distance to property lines was 20 to 50 feet required. Why did you choose, when the average in other areas is 20 to 50 feet, why did you chose 10?"

In reality, the document being referred to said something completely different. Here is the opening paragraph of the section on distance restrictions:

Distance restrictions between the location of the chicken coop and property lines, or coop

and nearby residences, were stated in 16 of the ordinances evaluated. There were no

restrictions in 3 of the ordinances and 5 were unclear. Of the 16 with distance

restrictions, 12 were distances required from residences, while 3 were distances required

from property lines. The distance required from property lines ranged from 10 to 90 feet,

while the distances from residences ranged from 20 to 50 feet.

[You can tell its a quote because it is pasted in.]

To summarize: the authors looked at 25 cities that allowed chickens. Five were unclear about setbacks from the property line. That leaves 20. There were no restrictions in three. That leaves 17, although the report only refers to 16. Of the 16 only three required setbacks from the property line. Those three varied widely -- 10 feet, 25 feet and 90 feet. Clearly 90 feet is an anomalous outlier. The fact is the most common setback for the coop from the property line is zero feet.

CLUCK is going along with 10 feet, even though the mobility of the Sarasota coops will allow distances to be adjusted "on the fly". Since the coops can be moved, there is no need to obsess about distances when they are not fixed.

As for distances from residences, chicken opponents should argue for coops closer to the owner's own residences so that they might be aware of any problems.

Uncle Sam Expects You to Keep Hens

First Martha Stewart, now Uncle Sam. Have to wonder who else will be supporting backyard chickens.

CLUCK withdraws offer to provide correspondence with public official

In an abrupt change, the Sarasota CLUCK blogsite withdrew an offer to provide copies of two exchanges of correspondence with the Chair of the City Planning Commission. Yesterday the offers were prominent parts of a posting critical of a Sarasota Herald-Tribune editorial, but as of this morning they are marked with asterisks and an explanation stating that the messages are attorney privileged and confidential information. In light of this unambiguous warning from an attorney's office, CLUCK has withdrawn the offer until the matter can be clarified.

Below is the text as it appears in the email, although one has to wonder if printing it is also a violation.

 

IMPORTANT MESSAGE

The information contained in this message is attorney privileged and confidential information intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above.  If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the intended recipient, you are notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and return the original message to the sender at the above E Mail address.