Eclectic Amateur

Ann Arbor: following the lead of Ypsilanti!

Ann Arbor Council Member Stephen Kunselman is championing the right to have your own all-natural eggs, which he says taste much better than store-bought variety.

At a council retreat Saturday, Kunselman, D-3rd Ward, brought up changing city laws to allow chickens back in the city. He says there is a group of local business people and residents who support the idea and he plans to bring a resolution once he gets the local support organized….

At the retreat Saturday at the new W.R. Wheeler Service Center, the chicken issue livened up a discussion that focused mainly on bricks, mortar and taxes. When broken into discussion groups to talk about city priorities, Council Member Stephen Rapundalo, D-2nd Ward, questioned Kunselman on the chickens.

“What’s with the chickens?” Rapundalo asked.

“Chickens lay eggs,” Kunselman said. “I want fresh eggs. It’s just a simple ordinance change.”

“I want to have fresh milk,” Rapundalo said. “Let’s change the ordinance to allow cows or goats.”

Of course, we can’t mention urban chickens without mentioning pioneering micro-eco-urban farmer Peter Thomason:

The issue popped up earlier this year in Ypsilanti, too, where a resident is challenging that city’s law against keeping farm animals on his property….

Ypsilanti resident Peter Thomason had his request to keep 12 chickens in cages in his back yard rejected last year by the Ypsilanti City Council.

Thomason said Saturday he still keeps the chickens on his property.

And Peter, like myself, doesn’t think that Councilman Rapundalo’s question about milk animals should be left a rhetorical one:

“And I’m picking up two pregnant goats tomorrow,” Thomason said.

Yes, I know, this story is a few weeks old now, but I’m a lame blogger. Sometimes, you get what you pay for.

For cooler coverage than I provide about the Underground Poultry movement in Ann Arbor, see Teeter Talk.