Here is the Windows Media audio for the meeting.
In the Public Forum section I spoke out about the chicken coop "thing":
I just want to make a comment about this chicken coop thing, since that has been put back into committee. It occurred to me that...might it not be a good time to terminate the allowance of chicken coops in the city altogether. Yes, you have to grandfather in the existing ones; but just end it, rather than try to amend it with all the sensibilities in mind simultaneously and come to ... well, somebody's going to be unhappy, particularly with the current situation. Might it not be time to just terminate it?
More on the chicken coop "thing" here.
As you may or may not know, a snow emergency has been declared for the city of Neenah. This is a mayoral proclamation, only the 2nd for the entire year 2008. The salient points:
- No parking on any city street after midnight. Parking is allowed again after 6:00 in the morning.
- But if you do park on the street between 6:00am and midnight you have to pay attention to which side of the street you park on:
- On even-numbered days you may only park on the side of the street with even-numbered addresses
- On odd-numbered days you may only park on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses
Of course, those odd/even restrictions are superseded if there's already a parking restriction on your street; i.e., a restriction that limits parking only to one side.
And, of course, your car "shall be ticketed by the Neenah Police Department and shall be subject to towing to clear streets for the public safety." Up to now -- that is, the three or so weeks since the proclamation was made public -- the city has been pretty lenient. But last night the Mayor asked the Chief of Police to direct his officers to put some enforcement oomph behind the proclamation. (The Chief hadn't seen the proclamation, interestingly enough.)
One more thing: the full Council has to approve the snow emergency at the January 21st Council meeting. The Mayor acknowledged that it might be a tad embarrassing if it isn't passed. You can imagine that anyone who had his car ticketed is going to descend on City Hall the very next day for redress of grievances.