Letter to City Council

Here is an e-mail that I sent to the Fort Collins City Council in support of our initiative. And remember, the city council meeting is coming up! Tuesday, June 3rd @ 6:00pm - City Hall West, 300 LaPorte Ave

Dear Mayor and Fort Collins City Council Members,

On behalf of the Fort Collins Urban Hen Coalition, I would like to thank you for your consideration of the Urban Hen Initiative.

Raising chickens in an urban setting is very different than how they are raised on a farm. The practice of keeping a small number of chickens in portable enclosures called 'chicken arks' is very common in England as well as many US cities.

There are three very public and successful models for raising chickens in the city that we would like to see adopted in Fort Collins.

Seattle, WA - Seattle Tilth is a nationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a sustainable community.

http://www.seattletilth.org/resources/City%20Chickens/view?searchterm=chicken

Portland, OR - Growing Gardens gets at the root of hunger in Portland, Oregon. They support low income households for three years with seeds, plants, classes, mentors and more. This year they plan on adding chickens to their program as well.

http://www.growing-gardens.org/portland-gardening-resources/chickens.php

Madison, WI - Mad City Chickens started out as a group of like-minded, pro-poultry people (also known as the "poultry underground"). Their aim is to educate the urban population on the benefits of raising ones own food, and to bring to light the misconceptions people might have about the raising of poultry in an urban setting.

http://www.madcitychickens.com/

I have been in contact with individuals from each of these programs and am very excited about the prospect of having Fort Collins added to the list of progressive cities dedicated to the ideals of sustainability and food security.

I welcome any questions that you may have concerning our proposal and look forward to sharing our vision for Fort Collins at the upcoming City Council meeting.

Regards,

Dan Brown
fortcollinshens@gmail.com
970-391-6561
www.fortcollins-urbanhens.blogspot.com

1 comment:

Barb said...

I'm so excited about the work you are doing, and proud to help in any way I can. I can't make it to the meeting on Tuesday and look forward to hearing how everything goes!