Here we go again!
As I've written before, if you look up controversy in your dictionary, it should provide a direct reference to Iowa City.
Our newest controversy is whether our city council and city staff should spend more time researching problems and possible benefits involved with Iowa City residents keeping chickens in their backyards.
For cryin' out loud, we already have thriving businesses that provide all the fried chicken and eggs anyone needs. Col. Sanders and Hy-Vee have that covered.
The way I see it, chickens in pens in back yards in Iowa City is a few watts short of a bright idea. Keeping with the animal idiom, especially at this time, our city council and city staff have a whole lot bigger fish to fry.
We're a modern growing city, not an old-time farm village. We've already allowed residential streets too narrow for city traffic while planners and the historic preservation commission want to make our community look more like the turn of the 20th century than the 21st century. For instance, I just had it confirmed that the city's plans for widening and paving Sycamore Street at the south edge of Iowa City will instead reduce traffic lanes from four to three.
With unfortunate city-directed developments like The Peninsula, it appears the effort is to make us more like Mackinac Island than a growing Midwestern city.
And now some people want to keep chickens in their backyards. I wonder if any of those folks ever lived on a farm and know what a pen of chickens is like.
First of all, I'm sure the city would need to have strict regulations and restrictions about how and where chickens would be confined. Then we'll need to hire inspectors to make sure the pens meet code, and of course, the animal shelter will need to have specially designed areas and facilities to keep the chickens that get loose and are set loose. And don't forget the unwanted predators chickens attract.
Also, even though chickens don't like it, their eggs need to be collected every day so they don't get old and dirty. What happens when you want to get away for a few days or an extended vacation. "Hey neighbor, you want to collect our eggs every day, feed the chickens and clean the chicken coop while we're gone?"
Oh sure, that'll be no problem.
Chickens in backyards is an idea whose time has come and gone ... a long time ago.
Shifting gears
There's a national promotion going on now spearheaded by Oprah Winfrey and her "No Phone Zone" bumper stickers.
That's the impetus needed by those of us who believe cell phones and driving motor vehicles are about as compatible as oil and water, but far more dangerous.
The Iowa Legislature has been discussing a bill making it illegal to text on a cell phone while driving. Why would anyone disagree?
If there are brain activity studies available, I'll wager they show that talking on a phone involves greater concentration than talking with someone sitting or standing next to you.
We already have a law requiring use of seat belts, which is solely to protect us from ourselves. If I'm not wearing a seat belt, I'm absolutely of no greater danger to anyone else on the road than if I were wearing one. But texting or even talking on a cell phone while driving makes you a greater danger to others, as well as yourself.
So why do we have laws requiring use of seat belts, but allow drivers to text or talk on cell phones?
I'm all for Oprah's "No Phone Zone."
Bob Elliott
Writers Group