NIMBY Chickens

Hentrification: Park Slope Chickens Threaten to Tear Neighborhood Apart

Feathered friend, fine. Neighbor? Not so much.
Feathered friend, fine. Neighbor? Not so much. Photo: iStockphoto

Eight chickens that were moved into coops inside the Warren-St. Marks Community Garden in Park Slope last week are coming under fire from neighbors who claim that their introduction to the community will bring “stink, vermin, flies, lead poisoning and possibly even avian flu into the neighborhood.” The Times reports that the chickens, which normally live on Governors Island, have settled only temporarily in the Slope, but were nonetheless the subject of an intense public meeting yesterday that led at least one man to exclaim, “I don’t want a chicken to get between me and my neighbor.” Lately, city chickens are not having an easy time. Earlier this month, a state Health Department scientist reported that chickens raised in public gardens in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens have been producing eggs containing high levels of lead. [NYT, Earlier]

Hentrification: Park Slope Chickens Threaten to Tear Neighborhood Apart