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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPoF June 13 2011 - appendix A.pdf Front Yark Exclosures: Sally Grubb 104 Midway Road Sally.grubb(a)gmail.com Since your vote against the proposed changes to the fei cing ordinance I have been simmering with anger over the blatant discrimination Villagers wit small yards who like to garden are facing in not being allowed to protect our yards from t increasingly voracious eating habits of the deer. I was becoming calmer when I ready the Mayor's articl in the recent issue of the Currier and was shocked to read that the proposed changes to the encing Ordinance were of too major a nature for the Mayor to cast a positive vote. More maj ir than the vote to go ahead with culling? I calmed down and decided to try and work with exclo res. I have come up with a solution that I think complies with the proposals you had made However the solution will pose an almost impossible siutation for Brent the Zoning office hen he has to give me a permit. It also doesn't suit me because of the difficulty I now ha caring for my garden. Please, why don't you ask the village gardeners and ol er experts to help write an acceptable ordinance for the Village. Two-Minute Advocacy for an updat and intelligent Fencing Ordinance: June 13, 2011; Elizabetf, Mount, 303 E Upland Rd I had no idea I'd be back, droning on a out updating the 1954 fencing ordinance. But you have now , oted down TWO proposed changes - first for temporary fencing d then for permanent fencing. When the mayor said she pre rred to craft a BETTER law, I thought you should throw hedges in the mix. There seems to be a double standard t tween a hedge and a fence. Why is it that huge, impenetrable, evei green, property-line hedges are acceptable but 8' high, open fence on property lines are not? If you think it's because fences are ma -made, you should remember that hedges are planted an maintained by the owners of that property. Like fences, they d 't get there by themselves. For those who prefer open views and asy access from yard to yard, please note that many of these h dges allow no access and no view, neither in nor out. I presur e they were planted because hedge owners wanted their p ivacy, no matter how large or how small their property. So, if you want to be CONSISTENT w n you revisit this issue, then why not regulate property line Barrie s - in other words, anything on the property line that i over 4' high. Or, if you simply want to regulate STRUCTURES then please remember that fences are NOT the single, dire threat at some of you have made them out to be. Thanks Note: I hope you all were given copie of my neighbors' signatures, given before I built my fence, and soly ng the perceived problem of offending your neighbors with your f c ice. A fertility control vaccine known as PZP has been sed to manage the population of wild horses and burros on an island that links Ma land to Virginia.The Humane Society Legislative Fund and animal advocates ar pushing this method as an alternative to the cruel roundups in which many rses are killed and others are separated from family groups. J' Proper use of PZP would,in many cases,allow the ureau of Land Management to keep wild horse and burro numbers in balance wi what the land can sustain.They are talking about a population of 38,400 wild hor s and burros.They'd have to sterilize 60% of mares to be effective.That amour s to what, perhaps 15,000 mares? A smaller mainland population,not isolated an on in island,at the Little Book Cliffs range in Colorado was successfully treated so thal a planned roundup was cancelled. PZP is used on deer as well.The vaccine is admini ered through a dart or needle. Here in CH are an estimated 200 deer. If say 70% f these are does, and 60%needed to be sterilized,that would amount to only 84 doE Surely this is doable. Since the sterilization lasts 2 to 3 years,the process needs t be repeated every few years,but this is preferable to an annual slaughter by net an bolt. In Missouri,a proposition was passed by voters t regulate dog breeders in order to eliminate puppy mills.A handful of legislators vot d to disregard the will of the voters and dismantle the proposition,gutting mo of the provisions voters had spoken up for. HSLF president Michael Markarian aid,"That type of arrogance is going to lead to a voter backlash,and we are likel to see efforts—not only in MO, but around the country—to protect the ballot init itive process and make it more difficult for politicians to defy...the will of the p pie." Now admittedly,there was no ballot initiative in ,but a comparable scenario has occurred.The trustees voted during an off-sched a meeting,the agenda of which was not made known to citizens,to approve the t and bolt slaughter of the village deer population.Why did they do this?Was it be use of the backlash that would have taken place here in this room had the vote b n made public? And indeed,the backlash now in evidence is coming not only frorr residents of CH,but from surrounding communities as well. In the midst of all the politics and mayhem,have I ie trustees lost sight of the animals in question? Have they viewed the video verage of net and bolt slaughter? Would they really subject their constituents to th grotesque process,not to mention the suffering of the animals,just to avoid he unlikely chance that higher transparent fences would spoil the appearance of he village? Especially since net and bolt is not supported by science? Just imagine the good will that could be generatec if the trustees reconsidered and established a non-lethal means of controlling the H deer population. Sarah Elbert, 405 Troy Road, Ithaca, N w York, 14850 June 13, 2011 To the Village of Cayuga Heights, Boaid of Trustees and the NY State Department of .Environmental Cons vation: I am attending this meeting today hi support of the suft brought by petitioners to stop the plan to "bolt and shoot" C uga Heights deer. I fully support this suit morally, politically 13nd with financial support. I am 75 years old, a property 3wner ( 71 acres) and taxpayer in Danby, New York for fifty ars. I live within sight of several herds of deer displaced by velopers. My vegetable and flower garden is fenced and I have iever been troubled by the deer browsing nearby My children grew in Tompkins County and they, as well as my five grand childrer , are appalled by this planned brutal mass killing of deer. For thirty-five years I taught Univers ty history courses including environmental history. One of the most popular courses was " Taming the Call of the Wild," an kmerican history course that included Felix Salten's "Bambi" orl the film version. A well-known writer and critic, Felix Sal mann, an Austrian Jew, penned the original text (late 1920's) ind his amazingly accurate nature fictions were deployed to warn the black cloud of fascism as it gained power and conquere his native Austria, Europe, and potentially the world. He scaped, heartbroken to Switzerland where Disney contacted hii and as romantic as the film surely is, the message is still cl ar... we are part of nature and the responsible for the nurture of all creatures great and small . "Man", humans,are not gods, and hile many still kill animals for sustenance, "natural laws" re not license to kill in order to "preserve" privileged neighbor ads. The ordeal of civility is increasingly fragile in this country and some communities" believe that thei "gates" are invisible. The meetings we have attended for month revealed the gates of Cayuga Heights and who they protect. Sincerely, Sarah Elbert, PH.D, Cornell University, Professor Emerita, Binghamton University. ,/,