Beyond Disgusted
Dear Editor, When one Hastings citizen, along with the names of some over 230 signers decided they’d like to live in a city where barnyard creatures also dwell, I take offense.
Asking our elected officials to take their personal wishes seriously enough to overturn a long-standing ordinance forbidding chickens in the city, is for me presumptuous and without consideration for Hastings as a whole.
This kind of thing can happen when citizens believing to the contrary do not respond. If anyone reading this feels as I do, please contact your own city council member or any other council member and ask that they not make Hastings a city where barnyard creatures may be raised within its city limits.
I’m proud to stand with Apple Valley, which like Hastings has known better than to allow chicken-raising in the city. It’s summer, the proponents are trying to hurry this through. They are asking the ordinance be overturned without “unnecessary restrictions”, and that by doing so would put Hastings in the “present era”. (Hastings Journal, June 10).
I ask that more citizens take notice of what’s happening, and measure for themselves, why permitting chickens on residential property would enhance Hastings and add to the list of assets it already has.
Overturning the ordinance would be a huge step backwards, just when Hastings River Renaissance, its trails, and its schools have brought it to the forefront of river cities.
Glenda Schnirring
