WHAT HAPPENED AT YESTERDAY’S COUNCIL VOTE on Urbavore’s MPD Re-Zoning: They voted NO. There I said it. I’ve had a hard time making myself sit down & write those words. Now, how can I possibly express what that “no vote” means for my family & so many others. I can’t actually, so I’m not gonna try! I will say though that I am far more disappointed than I thought I’d be. I feel defeated in a way I’ve never felt before. It’s debilitating in fact. I’ll give you a quick sum up here, but PLEASE stay tuned for future explanations. Good news: because we proved our innocence at BZA after 2 years of fighting, we do not have to shut-down the compost & we can in so many ways continue business per usual. We will have to address some (petty) violations which will be costly (paving the first 25 feet of our drive entrances, etc.) We will also no longer be able to sell complimentary products from our fellow farmers like ferments from @fairsharefarm or mushrooms from @myco.planet. This is sad because these partnerships strengthen our local food system & create a healthier community with increased access to unique products. Worst of all, it really HURTS some of these farmers like @skyviewfarmandcreamery. Our CSA & online store is one of their BIGGEST accounts & now that’s gone. We will continue to use 55th Terr. for commercial activity (for now) & we will not be able to build a savvy new driveway/costly green buffer like our MPD so eloquently proposed at the request of a few neighbors (the same ones who later demanded the plan fail.) We will however create a cheap farm road from Bennington as soon as funding & fair weather permit. The real kicker though is that the failure of the plan leaves us vulnerable all over again. The re-zoning would have given us longterm protection & codified all the wonderful community initiatives worked into the MPD (community solar, farm to table kitchen, nature-based education, etc.) In essence we wasted 100k, thousands of hours, &
Look, I’m not capable or prepared to give the official update yet. I’ll do that tomorrow or the next day. But I do want to say something about an incident that struck me so powerfully and painfully following today’s hearing. After hours of “city hall ongoings” Dan and I drove out to my parent’s place to pick up the kids. We didn’t say much, just joked and got in the car. On the way home my 8-year-old Solomon (probably the most epic person I’ve ever met) said very sweetly “I haven’t had the opportunity to hear about the Hearing”. So we told him. There was silence in the car for the remainder of the drive and we didn’t think much of it. When we pulled into the farm and plugged in the “electric car”, he didn’t get out. I found him inside banging his head against the window and frantically sobbing. I was taken aback, scared, and shocked…and yet how else would any thinking, breathing, feeling person take the news??!! He said to me “for two years we fought, we proved our innocence, we did everything for our neighbors, and we got nothing…NOTHING!!”. I could see his small and mighty brain working, churning, and coming up short!! I saw him struggle physically (the kid was shaking!) with the reality of injustice. I’m already pre-disposed to suffering and disappointment, but this was truly a real-time experience of my own child becoming jaded before my eyes. He cried for a long time. I hugged him but I didn’t lie to him. I said I felt the exact same way. He’s watching a movie now (on our projector) cuz we don’t own a TV. I hope it will take his mind off things for now. This will shape him. It will build character!!! But pardon me if I sound like a complete ass: time has run out. Humans like Solomon are too little too late. Maybe I’ll feel differently tomorrow. But today was as BAD day. My kid doesn’t deserve to witness such blatant human short-comings. And he certainly doesn’t need to see his parents shamed by self-indulgent
Zoom link for today’s Final City Council Vote on Urbavore’s Master Plan Re-Zoning is in profile. It is BEST to attend in person but if you cannot please change your screen name to “your name, your district (if applicable), supporter of Urbavore/CCKC”. We will have signs, but y’all should bring your own if possible with “respectfully creative”😂 touches!!! We got this, right?🙄🙏💚♻️🌎
PLEASE ATTEND City Council’s FINAL VOTE on Urbavore’s hard-won MPD Re-Zoning Proposal!! This is critical and will secure our future as an urban agriculture & composting hub positioned to improve/evolve as we serve/educate our City and neighborhood. It will also allow us to quickly address each and every concern brought to us by a few neighbors. The VAST majority of our Brown Estates Community supports this plan, as does the larger KC Metro. It was also recommended 6 to 1 by the City Planning Commission (twice). Our 3rd District Reps may not understand the value of our work, but YOU DO! Let’s make our voices known yet again and show-up in solidarity on Thursday!!!🙏🌎💚♻️
If it’s happening, YOO MUST ATTEND!!! I should know for certain by Wednesday at 3pm. So for now, mark your calendars: Thursday, 1/30, 2pm at City Hall, 26th Floor. The full council will vote on the long anticipated Master Plan Development Re-Zoning that PROTECTS and secures the future of KC’s largest, longest-standing urban farm and ONLY curbside compost pick-up service!!! SHARE!! Media? Unlikely (I’m not the Chiefs or Taylor Swift) but I’ll go ahead and tag @kcur anyway for good measure. Thoughtful, well-researched, independent journalism can be a catalyst for change. It can also expose corruption and change our systems for the better!! Would love to see some of that.✌️
To whom it may concern: The farm is well-staffed during our absence today. Cameras are installed at both entrances. FYI! We’ve had multiple reasons to be concerned that someone is messing with us and endangering our dogs and general well-being. We are ON IT! Please stop screwing with us. I’d alert my 3rd district reps to this terrible situation for my family, but it won’t do any good. Police have been notified of course.
The death toll keeps rising! It sucks so bad, but I do want to make one thing clear: THIS WAS NOT INTENTIONAL. My neighbors have NOT APOLOGIZED, and they have NOT agreed to compensate us. They are NOT good people in my eyes, BUT they did NOT intentionally let their dogs off their leads and bring them to my farm to murder chickens. They HAVE WITHOUT A DOUBT (quite intentionally) done a number of unthinkably awful things to me and my family (for years in fact) but this monstrosity is just not one of those intentional acts of harm. I can say this confidently due to many factors. I can also empathize with the difficulty of keeping dogs on your property. These dogs are usually tethered. They got lose. It happens. My dogs are fenced into our 13 acres, but they got out only this morning! I refuse to be a hypocrite. And I refuse to accuse someone of a crime they didn’t commit, EVEN IF THEY ARE ACTIVELY MAKING MY LIFE A LIVING HELL. Would they offer me the same grace - HELL NO! Does that mean I lower myself to match their unethical conduct - HELL NO! At the end of the day, all I have is my integrity and my principles. Dan and I have filed a report with animal control. My neighbors called the police on us so (conveniently😂) there is already a police record. We have meticulously tallied the cost of each bird and the cost of lost egg production. We have issued an invoice to our neighbors for the total cost of what we have in the birds plus 20% of the production loss. We think this is an incredibly good deal considering. We would prefer not to involve lawyers, but it is my impression they have no intention of compensating us. So be it. We’ll make our next move in time. I am learning the art of “radical acceptance”. There is no reason behind the madness that has swallowed our lives. It will continue, and no amount of money or legal aide will truly protect us from the “crazy” especially if City Council is in support of these neighbors and their actions. WE ARE DOING
Place your orders for Saturday’s @brooksidefarmersmarket! Link in profile.☃️
We look like sh*t😂…I know! But I didn’t have time to get the makeup crew here before this impromptu video. We are truly down in the dumps as we ring in the New Year - a new year of fighting, defending, scrabbling, and clawing for the life we used to have which consisted of working our asses off to grow nutrient rich food for our community while composting people’s waste and turning it into rich soil. That life was hard enough. It took daily sacrifice and it still does, but the weight that we’ve been carrying these past two years makes that old life seem so very EASY! Please come support us today at City Hall on the 10th Floor for our Board of Zoning Adjustment Hearing. This body will rule on the compost violation once and for all! If we lose, we technically have to shut down Compost Operations within ten days.😬 Of course we would appeal that decision in court but there are no guarantees that the business could function while fighting our case. Life is unjust & unfair. It is cruel and cold. It is also so effing beautiful at times! I think of the smell of rich earth as it crumbles between my fingers…the undeniably sensuous nature of fully intact soil aggregates…thriving biology so microscopic that our inferior brains could never even begin to understand its divine complexity. That image (that reality) brings me peace in the midst of a man-made circus - a dance of fools that I find myself a part of. But it won’t last. Humanity and stupidity will ultimately perish, and earth (rich composted matter) will prevail. Yes folks, that brings me peace - the simple idea that our ways as humans will not last forever. Don’t get me wrong, Dan and I will continue to do right by Mother Earth and our fellow humans as long as we live, but the futility of fools is not lost on us. Sorry for the sermon.🤪 See you later today at City Hall.💚♻️🌎
@brooksidefarmersmarket!! Come and get ‘em’!!!🐷🐽
The ROW Ordinance was not voted on. It was taken OFF DOCKET which is better than a “continuance”. What would have been BEST, is a simple vote of “No, we will not support an illegal ROW vacation and cut off access to a family’s home and business”. That said, we are thankful to the competent staffers in City Hall who advocated that this item be removed! I will consider it a win within a sea of disappointment.💚 Remember this, your voice matters! You can make it heard “real loud” in a few years when certain reps go up for reelection.💪
Rebel Farmers, Adventurous Eaters! Celebrating local food, culture and community. Brooke Salvaggio and Dan Heryer. Former owners of the one and only BADSEED!
