Survey from ORRE
Robert J. Gunter
Greetings All. The Oak Ridge Revitilization Effort (ORRE) has a survey up. Please take the time to fill it out and pass it along to others to fill out too.
I am trying to send a link:
It is also linked on their website at the bottom: http://www.revitalizeoakridge.org/
With sufficient numbers we can make thing happen and get the attention of the citizens and our leaders.
Orenv
Robert J. Gunter
Greetings All,
I was very disappointed by the vote of city council to not allow people to
raise chickens in Oak Ridge for egg production (only hens, up to 4).
Apparently the “concerned citizens” who showed up used a lot of
emotional appeals to being overrun by coyotes and rats to argue against it.
Both species are probably too fat on cats and bird seed to bother. Very
little in the way of FACT was presented against, rather, we got to hear opinions.
Enough of the city council was swayed by this line of reasoning to prevent them
from referring this issue back to the planning commission.
I hope that some day we can revisit allowing chickens in the city for egg production. There are many cities far larger and smaller than ours who now allow this. Has there been any backlash from these areas where they ended up finding it was a failed experiment? Not that I have seen. I am far more worried about the attraction of back yard bird feeders for all sorts of animals (including a bear sighting in OR last year).
If we want the city to change in any way, then we need to get the city to actually change something. In my mind, a city with a more progressive attitude would be a good thing. I would like to see the city devote some time to “quality of life” aspects of the town. This includes upgrades to the exiting greenways and creation of bicycle paths that let us reach all areas of the city by bicycle without having to ride in traffic.
I see people from time to time riding their bikes around town and I am very
happy about it. I would love for Oak Ridge to become a place where people
choose to live because the quality of life here is better and different than
they can get elsewhere. Let our city leaders know you care and back them
up. There is a vociferous opposition to most of anything. In my
mind they are loud, but few in number. Let us not get hijacked by their
short sightedness.
A buddy of mine builds contemporary houses in areas where they are few. As
he built, people would tell him that he would not be able to sell such a house
in this “traditional” area. He was always able to sell his
houses because although 90% of people prefer traditional, there is nobody
catering to the other 10% and he had them all to himself. That is the
model that I think can work for Oak Ridge. We cannot compete with
Knoxville or even Farrigut on a straight up basis. They both have ready
access to far more geographic area and about 20X the population than do we (OR was
established in an isolated place for a good reason). So we have to be
different to have any hope of drawing the best and brightest newcomers to our
town.
Oak Ridge was built as a very progressive city by one of the countries foremost architects. People came from all over the world to see what had been built here. At the time most people did not ride around in cars and the city was built to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists. We have spent the last 40 odd years forgetting the original plan, and making it easier to get around by car. I drive my car, and I like to do it, but wouldn’t it be nice to spend some time and effort on the other forms of transportation?
Orenv
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