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Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
The answer would be “to get to Red Hook and depreciate property values” if you were listening to NPR this morning. The show in question was Weekend Sunday Edition and what I heard was a gem of a quote from a Park Slope real estate agent maligning people who raise chickens in their backyard:
…What family in their right mind wants to buy a two million dollar house next to a chicken farm? You know, you think of chickens you think of some god forsaken place, upstate New York or some other country, not Brooklyn.
I’ll be upfront: I detest chickens. The previous having been said, I think the “boutique” rearing of chickens is a wonderful alternative to factory farming. Besides, if it is being conducted on private property in accordance to the laws of the City of New York you can’t do anything about it anyway.
Personal politics aside, I cannot help but wonder how upstate New Yorkers felt about having their stomping grounds referred to as “some god forsaken place”? I doubt they liked it very much. Hopefully one of them will see fit to give this chap (or his supervisor) a ring and make his (or her) feelings known.
On that note I have to run now. I need to go to Noble Street and buy me some chickens.*
Miss Heather
*In all seriousness folks, give this story a listen. Contained therein is a morsel of Park Slope arrogance at its very finest. It is not the purpose of this blog to take regular pot shots at Park Slope, but sometimes they make it so damned easy it is impossible for me to let the opportunity slip by.
Comments
3 Comments on Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?
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vintagejames on
Mon, 5th Nov 2007 10:00 am
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ickyinbrooklyn on
Mon, 5th Nov 2007 5:34 pm
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Spanky on
Fri, 9th Nov 2007 12:05 pm
Those are just your basic free-range chickens, held in high esteem by those who like to pay extra for their food.
Just a few years ago there was a rooster, or maybe a roaster, around E. 17th St. just south of Beverly Rd. We thought it was neat. A little bit of the country in Brooklyn. One morning I was on the bus and saw a uniformed (uninformed ?) animal control person chasing said culprit along the front lawns on Ocean Ave. while holding a bigass net on a stick to capture it. It was a hoot.
What an arrogant, small-minded ass. Thanks for posting this jerk’s comments Miss H.
Miss Heather says, ‘I cannot help but wonder how upstate New Yorkers felt about having their stomping grounds referred to as ‘some god forsaken place’?”
Well, lemmee tell ya. I worked very, very hard to buy a house in upstate New York, you small minded bore; as did many of my fellow city-dwellers. Maybe you’re not aware that city people like it there and have friends there. Or maybe you’re not aware that a great deal of upstate New York property owners are the same folks you ply your shoddy wares to. Perhaps you city realtors are not aware that we have NPR affiliates up north. Or maybe you’re not aware that some homes in the small towns upstate go for much more that the properties you sell here (and are several times as large). Fuck you, realtor. And if you are with an affiliate, I am calling them tomorrow too.
Besides the real estate agent, I’d say that chicken farmer in Red Hook was even more arrogant basically saying, “I don’t care about the laws of NYC and I’m not paying any fines.”
As someone who doesn’t like the DOBs laws being broken, I thought you’d skewer her.
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