Columbia Board of REALTORS® Weblog

We had a visitor at the Board offices today. Lee and Chris saved the day. It looked pretty darn close to this picture.

I ran.

CVG

It has come to my attention that there is a proposed Urban Hen Ordinance in Columbia that would allow city residents to keep chickens. The current rules call for one chicken per half-acre. The new ordinance being discussed would allow anywhere from four to fifteen or twenty chickens per city lot.  What will they think of next??? Unfortunately, it’s no laughing matter and should be taken seriously.  Currently the council is evenly divided regarding passage. The ordinance from Madison Wisconsin, which ours will be modeled after, is below. Although the one in Madison calls for up to four chickens, there is a large, vocal, passionate group in Columbia calling for 15-25 chickens. If you wish to read more about it, I googled “Columbia Missouri Urban Hen Ordinance”.

We sent a survey to both our members and the public Yahoo group. Although the results showed a few positive comments, most people overwhelmingly were opposed to keeping chickens and felt allowing them would devalue adjacent properties. More chickens means more decrease in property value.

I particularly liked one comment: “When people ride their bicycles down Broadway with a couple of chickens in baskets behind the seat, our fine city will look just like Saigon on the 1960’s.”

Charming thought.

CVG

City of Madison Municipal Code Regarding the Keeping of Chickens:

ž 28.03(2)8. An accessory building or use includes, but is not limited to, the following:

8. Keeping of chickens, as permitted and regulated in each district incorporated in this ordinance.

ž 28.08(2)(b)8.j. (R1 Single-Family Residence District) Keeping of up to four (4) chickens on a lot

with up to four dwelling units, provided that:

i. No person shall keep any rooster.

ii. No person shall slaughter any chickens.

iii. The chickens shall be provided with a covered enclosure and must be kept in the covered

enclosure or a fenced enclosure at all times.

iv. No enclosure shall be located closer than twenty-five (25) feet to any residential structure on

an adjacent lot.

v. The owner, operator, or tenant obtains a license under Sec. 9.52, MGO [see attached glossary].

vi. The applicant for a license notifies all residents within two hundred (200) feet of the lot.

vii. Not more than fifty percent (50%) of the residents notified in vi. above object within fourteen

(14) days of notification.

(Cr. by Ord. 13,605, 5-21-04; Am. by ORD-08-00108, 10-7-08)

ž 9.52 KEEPING OF CHICKENS.

Any person who keeps chickens in the City of Madison shall obtain an annual license prior to

January 1of each year, or within 30 days of acquiring the chickens. The license year commences

on January 1 and ends on the following December 31.

Application shall be made to the City Treasurer and the fee for the license shall be ten

dollars ($10.00).

The Treasurer or other authorized individual shall collect the fee and shall assess and

collect a late fee of five dollars ($5.00) from every owner of chickens, if the owner fails to obtain

a license prior to April 1 of each year, or fails to obtain a license within 30 days of acquiring the

chickens. All late fees received or collected shall be paid into the local Treasury.

(Cr. by Ord. 13,605, 5-21-04; ORD-06-00154, 11-23-06)

Many of us were stunned to learn of the vicious attack on Adam Taylor by a gang of juveniles on June 6th in a downtown Columbia parking garage. Adam was hit from behind, knocked unconscious, and viciously beaten. Fortunately the incident happened in front of security cameras and within three hours several arrests were made. You can see the video on www.keepcolumbiasafe.com.

In April, our city council turned down a program to install cameras in various parts of the city, in spite of the offer from a local organization to pay half of the $50,000 price tag. At that time, privacy and budget reasons were cited.

In August, Adam’s mother Karen and Adam appeared in front of city council asking them to reopen the issue and listen to public comments.  What a novel idea – elected officials LISTENING to their constituents. You can see the Taylor’s comments here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx00hb2-_lo

Jerry Wade, Paul Sturtz, Karl Skala and Barbara Hoppe voted against listening to public comments so the measure failed.

This morning, a grassroots organization, KeepColumbiaSafe, has launched a ballot initiative that the issue be placed on the April ballot.   You have to be a registered voter in the city in order to sign it. They need to get about 2,800 signatures by October 31st.

The petition is posted to our website, www.cbormls.com.  Click on the Community Tab and the first link is for “Keep Columbia Safe Petition”.

Kudos to our Mayor, Jason Thornhill and Laura Nauser for being willing to listen to public comments. The voters will have to decide about the other four. I’ve made up my mind but fortunately, they don’t represent my Ward.

Just how safe do you feel downtown? How would you feel if your child was the victim and your city council member wouldn’t even listen? Do we have to have someone’s child die before we do the right thing?

CVG

The Today Show

 http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/#32506005

CVG

We are staying in the North Tower on the 20th floor of a major hotel in Toronto. Last night, at 2:30, the fire alarm sounded in the South Tower.  We had the option to evacuate or wait and see since it wasn’t our structure that was effected.  Hello? I watched those towers during 911 so we didn’t hesitate.

Note to self – elevators really don’t work when the alarm is going off.  Another note – always know where the exit stairway is – if the hall is smoke-filled, that wouldn’t be the best time to study the map on the wall. So down the 20 flights plus two more to street level we went.

Everyone was orderly and there was no panic…but 22 flights is a LONG way. My husband has two artificial knees and they worked fine but it was slow going.  We stopped every few floors to let people by us as he needed both handrails so was an effective road block. We were all in various stages of dress so that was fun.

After crossing the street and catching our breath, it turned out to be something minor and they let us back in shortly. We all clapped for the firemen.

We both are on Alieve this morning.

The moral of the story is not only know where the exit is in your hotel, be able to find it with your eyes closed or crawling on your knees…and maybe stay closer to the ground.

CVG

Holiday Inn website

I have an AE friend who when asked how did she discover something or how did she find a special photo replies “Google is your friend” and I pretty much have agreed with her.  In fact, I’ve felt pretty silly not using my own resources to discover the same thing.  However, I recently had an encounter with Google that has me re-evaluating the friend part.

I made reservations for two rooms at a Holiday Inn in Salem, Missouri for a recent float trip.  Yes, I know that it is customary to go camping on a float trip but frankly, a Holiday Inn is as close to camping as I ever want to get.  Anyway, I Googled “Holiday Inn Salem Missouri” and up popped the website www.hiexpress.com with a tool-free reservation number.  I made the reservations and checked into the hotel the next day.

As I normally do at most every hotel I ever check into (which is a lot!), I pulled out my AAA card, AARP card and all of my hotel membership cards and asked the desk clerk what I needed to belong to in order to get the cheapest rate.  Although she was very nice, she informed me that since I went through Google, she was not allowed to give me the $8 per room AAA discount.  She said that Google was like a travel agency and that they could not change it.

The reservation had no penalty if I had cancelled it before 6:00 but it was 6:05 so I was stuck.

Hmmmm… that was $16.00 that my AAA card would have saved me.  She said that if I had called them directly, they would have given me the $16 discount as well.

I thought the website was Holiday Inn’s. I never dreamed that it was Google’s.  Take a look for yourself – www.hiexpress.com  I won’t make that mistake again.

Some friend.

CVG

Just got a call….

“Hello Carol, I’m XX, an Appraiser from Kansas City. Your Agent XX said I should give you a call.  I only come into your area once every four or five years and I was wondering if you would help me out with some comps in your area?”

“Thank you, our information in our FEDERALLY COPYRIGHTED data base is for members only.  Would you like me to send you the application papers?”

“How much is it?”

It runs about $1,200 to join.  Frankly, I would question your ability to have geographical knowledge of our market area.  Wouldn’t this be against your code of ethics if you are only here once every four or five years?”

“No I don’t think so – Do you have a one-time only access?”

“No”

“All-righty then”  Clunk

What do you bet that he tries to “borrow” someone’s login?

Hello?  Here’s the rule buddy - 

OK…I’m not from Columbia. I didn’t go to high school here so don’t go “way back” with anybody here.

A local television station has cancelled a home-grown talk show “Pepper and Friends” that everyone grew up with and apparently loves.  I have just read the most vitriolic diatribe (how’s that for big words?) crucifying the station director for his business decision to cancel the show. It was a complete personal character assassination and totally uncalled for.  Frankly, the station manager is a very nice guy and contributes a lot to our community – but his personality is totally beside the point.  He made a business decision based on the shows ratings.   People who loved the show so much should have been watching it. End of story. 

I work all day long so have only seen the show a few times.  It was not riveting enough to record and watch in the evening.  I have seen a few clips of animals from the shelter which was a regular feature on the show.  The station reruns those clips at other times and I’m told that they still will have those segments.  All in all though, the show was hokey, homespun but not terribly engaging.  Sometimes evolution isn’t a bad thing….

CVG