By Gregg Hennigan
IOWA CITY – If the word “chicken” is directed at the City Council at tonight’s meeting, it probably won’t be an insult.
After three months of collecting signatures, organizers plan to submit a petition asking that people be allowed to keep chickens in residential areas. As of a couple of weeks ago, several hundred people had signed the petition.
Supporters of backyard chickens – which, along with urban chickens, is what the movement often is called – want city law to be changed to allow people to keep up to five hens, but no roosters, at their homes.
Click here for more background.
I’ll be covering the school board meeting tonight, but we’ll have a reporter check in on whether the petition is turned in.
The issue should not be discussed in any detail because it is not on the council’s agenda. Organizers plan to submit the petition during the public comment portion of the meeting.
City staff is collecting information on the matter for the council’s consideration, possibly later this month.
Johnson County News 
This is something Cedar Rapids needs to get on the ball with – clearly once again Iowa City is in the lead of the progressive, sustainable movement and the culture of delay here in CR has us lagging behind.
In order to have a “chicken in every pot” first we must have a chicken in every yard. I think we could phase this in, starting with the SE side in particular along Memorial Drive, August Dr, 27th St Dr SE & Nassau.
No longer the “City of Five Seasons” but the “City of Five Chickens”!
Cedar Rapids currently has an active yahoo group called Cedar Rapids Chicken Chat. They screened the documentary Mad City Chickens the same weekend Iowa City did (just this past weekend). There are people in Cedar Rapids working toward change and they could certainly use help. 16th Ave Ernie, if you are serious about getting chickens legal in CR I would recommend you hook up with CRCC and be a part of the solution. There is power in numbers 🙂
And thank you, Gregg. You didn’t even get a chance to be at the meeting but you still found time to blog about it. You rock!
I’ll be happy to get Ernie or anyone else interested in the Cedar Rapids ChickenChat group signed up ASAP…please email me at greenat50@yahoo.com and we’ll getcha signed up.