Hitting the campaign trail

     Today was my first day on the campaign trail.  To everyone I met today, thank you for your time, questions and comments. Next time I will need to plan for more time. I did not expect everyone to answer their door to someone who looks like a salesman. And I really did not expect as many to be interested in chatting about our city and politics in general. There were two major issues that were raised at almost every home I visited. The CHICKENS ( animal ordinance that was just recently pasted) and water issues. As a planning commission member, I voted AGAINST passing this new ordinance onto the city council. I know this will cost me the votes of all those who were in favor of it but I am a politician who does not tell everyone what they want to hear to get votes. Let me give you a few reasons on why I felt this was a bad decision. #1 the response from most individuals I talked with while this debate raged on was that it was motivated by the struggling economy. To me, this was not a reason to pass a new city wide ordinance. If the economy would get that severe and had no end in sight, the city council could pass a temporary emergency measure to allow for some type of accommodation for chickens or another food source. #2 is major lack of code enforcement. I have only met two individuals who have requested permits for this new allowance. Both seemed to me to be very responsible and clean. BUT, what is to say that the next 2 will be as responsible. If there is no enforcement, this could get out of hand quickly. Then watch how many citizens begin to look for new homes in new areas. It's kind of like building a prison and have no plan to hire any guards. #3 is that an overwhelming number of citizens who move into a community do so because they expect to live a certain way. The same way citizens who move to the country or rural area can expect to live another. I moved from Indiana where I lived on 26 acres. You could only see one house from where I lived. I moved there because I knew our freedoms were much greater. If I wanted a massive bonfire, I could do it. If my kids wanted to ride four wheelers on the property, they could. If I wanted 20 chickens running around, I could. I had 3 dogs running around loose and they never bothered anyone.  And that was expected. Before I moved into town, I gave 2 of them away because I knew 3 dogs in town was not the normal setting for town living. Imagine moving into a farming area and trying to ask the county to pass an ordinance preventing farmers from having more than 2 cows, 6 chickens, and restricting the hours they can graze. All of this because I want to live in the country, but I want it to feel like the city. Home buyers move to areas expecting to live a certain way. I know many of you might be thinking "What about my property rights?" Well, lets go a step further. What if i wanted to put in a 4 wheeler track around my house for my sons and all their friends? A hobby workshop painting old custom cars (paint fumes every weekend while your grilling out). I could list a thousand things that mostly everyone would have a major complaint about if it was next to you. But as for property rights, where is the line drawn? I believe most of us know what we expect when we move 10 feet from another house and what we can expect when we live on 26 acres. Many have asked if I would vote for appealing this if it came to a vote. My answer is yes. I am sorry for those of you who are very responsible property owners and would probably do a fantastic job with your animal permits. It's not you whom I fear. This is why my commitment to all of you is to fix our lack of code enforcement. I would encourage everyone reading this to get our codes and read them to see if there is even one in there that you would think is bad for the city(besides the new animal one). If these codes are good, we should strictly enforce them. My plan is to do this with volunteers sworn in by the mayor. I have had 2 gentlemen in this community already volunteer to do this. I will be out knocking on doors for the next several weeks. I am very anxious to meet all of you and hopefully have a chance to chat about all your concerns and issues. For all of you who disagree with me on the animal ordinance issue, don't let this keep you from voting for me. I will still work hard for you and probably agree with you on so many other important issues. I welcome all your comments and will respond to everyone.
Thank You Elk Ridge Citizens