Fighting City Hall

I'm sure not going to take this lying down. I have to try and present a
stronger case. I never thought that there would be so much opposition. Of
course these people know nothing about pigeons. Just relying on one persons
point of view.. Even if it is not backed up by facts. Doesn't seem to
matter. Just the thought that something could happen seems to be good
enough. But what floored me was even though I meet all their standards it
does not seem to matter. I am going to go around the neighbour hood with
some pigeon facts and try to ease some of their concerns. Don't know if it
will help. But I don't think it will hurt. The one guy that seems to be my
thorn in my side is my next door neighbour. And we talk at least every
second day.

He said absolutely nothing to me about this. Just caught me off guard by all
this. I will be better prepared next time. Probably flogging a dead horse.
But I shall try anyway.

Had to go down to a meeting last night about my application to keep pigeons.
It was turned down. I had 19 people against it. Four showed up and the next
door neighbour had a petition for fifteen more. He was the main trouble
maker. He has lung cancer and he thinks that the pigeons will affect him. He
also has several bird feeders in his back yard. He also has three little
bird houses in his back yard. The main concern was that they would have
drooping all over their back yards and the neighbour hood wood smell. I
tried to address their concern but it fell on deaf ears. The man that is in
charge of the zoning department and knows a little bit about the pigeons he
recommended that my application be excepted.

But he does not get a vote. The three people that vote on the council know
absolutely nothing about pigeons. The applications was turned down because
the birds might drop some droppings when they are flying. The other reason
that it was

turned down and this is one of my main reasons to appeal there decision is
that they thought or this one lady thought she was the main culprit, that
the pigeons should be kept outside the city on a farm. She says that even
though the by-laws state that I must be twenty eight feet away from
anybody's dwelling was too close. I am farther away than that. Even though I
meet all the by-laws concerns she thought that I should not be allowed to
keep pigeons.
So you see by-laws mean absolutely nothing. It clearly states that I am
allowed to keep them if I meet the following conditions. I have more that
done that. It does not seem to matter to politicians. So anyway I have a
right to appeal. Which I am going to do. Of course there is another charge
for this. Like big time. Another tax grab. So I'm, turned down because of
what might happen. Not what has happened. Don't even have the birds and I'm
convicted of doing all sorts of terrible things. The funny thing is that the
guy that yelled the loudest and went and got a petition has all these bird
feeders and bird houses in his back yard. Oh. also he claimed that the price
of houses would drop in the neighbour hood because I was keeping pigeons.

I just thought that some of the flyers might find this interesting that even
though you meet all the criteria . It can still be turned down because of
what might happen instead of what has happened.

Submitted by Dan Kinnear on 2004