Wait....This is a City Right?

I read something in the paper last week that really got me going and then reading a letter to the editor today made me decide to write this post. First off, since when is it ok for the News Times to do a feel good story on someone growing a cornfield in their front yard in the middle of our downtown ?
(Aug. 14 -News Times- Letter to the Editor -"Danbury's witch hunt against Guinea fowl")
Second, how is this story getting positive comments? My only conclusion is that these people don't realize this cornfield is in a front yard, and that they have not driven by the darn thing regularly to see how out of place it is and how it devalues the homes around it.

So what set me off on a poor lady's front yard cornfield? Well the fact that people think they can do whatever they want with their property without any consideration for their neighbors and the people who have to drive by it on a daily basis. Examples include cars parked in front yards, people loitering infront of homes, laundry hung on bushes and fences and in this case a cornfield adjacent to a main road!

What else set me off? The fool who wrote a letter to the editor complaining about city officials forcing him to legalize his shed and get rid of his guinea fowl.
(Aug. 4 - News Times - Local section - "Garden of Eatin")
Are you kidding me? How can you bash city officials for doing their job? How can you expect the Zoning Board of Appeals to say its ok for you to have chickens running around on your property and its ok for you to have built an entire structure on your property without following the proper procedures? How can you say this was a waste of time and tax dollars? I know I don't want chickens or goats or horses and cows running around next door to me and I know that they belong on a farm. I also know that if the city let one person do it then everyone would want to do what they want and if they did then we'd have cornfields and chicken coops popping up all over our CITY...I emphasize the word city because that is what we are and chickens and corn don't belong in a city's downtown! Come on people, learn to assimilate and respect your neighbors!

Our Condolences

Local politics have started back up in the last couple of weeks but its really too early to guess on winners and I honestly haven't heard or read anything revolutionary. Helena is still talking in circles about nothing, bringing up issues that aren't even issues and not providing any solutions to what she says is wrong, and the Mayor is going about his job with major groundbreakings and improvements in recent weeks, by the way a new elementary school and police headquarters are a major step forward, great job Mayor Boughton and City Hall!

On another note, the reason I am posting is to openly express our deepest condolences, on behalf of everyone at Listen Up Danbury!, to all those affected by the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I was watching news coverage of the disaster and came across the story of a young boy who helped save a bus full of children on the bridge (the details are in the link below). I hope in addition to this young man getting the recognition that he deserves that he also receives help from those who can afford it with his future. Celebrities give away money all the time for different causes and there is something about this boy that makes him seem deserving of a bright future, especially now that he is a hero.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/us/03bus.html?_r=1&oref=slogin