Introductory note: Certain Ugly People are trying to run the Birdman out of the public park in St Pete where he has fed birds for the last five years. First they tried the police, and fell flat on their prats. Now they are trying to pass a law against him (more than one, actually). The following are some documents to help you piece together the whole sordid tale.
Paul Knox is the first of the Ugly People to make contact with the Birdman. Here is a letter written to him after the first encounter.
Birdman recognizes that there is going to be war, and decides to distribute these two flyers around the neighborhood as a pre-emptive strike against the Ugly People.
The Ugly People try using the police and courts to get rid of the Birdman. Here is Birdman's Motion to Dismiss which tells the sordid story of this abuse of police power.
The Ugly People fail in the courts. Here is Birdman's postmortem.
The Ugly People go to the St Pete City Council. Here is the first article from the St Petersburg Times (19 Oct).
Birdman's letter to the St Petersurg Times in response to the above article
More of the City Council follies. Here is the second article from the St Petersburg Times (4 Nov).
An open letter to the City Council from the Birdman which refutes the lies and tells the truths that the Ugly People don't want known
A Pigeon Fact Sheet and other information on pigeons and the Pigeon Flap prepared for the St Pete City Council
St Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler skewers the Birdman's enemies (12 Nov)
Law against the Birdman passed by the City Council - but the result was not entirely negative, since there were actually three Council members who voted against it (5 were in favor - all previous laws against the Birdman have been unanimous), and one council member -- a bird feeder in her own right -- actually mocked the law - Another interesting point is that the original draft of the law allowed 4 ounces of food per person, but this was cut to just one ounce on fears that the Birdman and his wife might continue their activities under these restricted circumstances
In case the above link has disappeared, here is another copy of the story
St Petersburg Times cartoonist Don Addis mocks the Birdman's enemies with a cartoon on the editorial page (Saturday, 01 Dec) - Thanks Herb
Well, whaddaya know - The St Pete anti-birdfeeding ordinance was VETOED BY THE MAYOR yesterday (Dec 7), and not only that, but it was the FIRST VETO IN HISTORY FOR A ST PETE MAYOR. But don't get yr birdfood out just yet -- The 'emergency ordinance' forbidding feeding will be in effect till 13 Dec, and the mayor suggested by his remarks on TV last night that he would OK a less-restrictive ordinance. But what is clear from the veto is that the ordinance really pissed a lot of people off, and the mayor was feeling the heat. The question is, Will he and the City Council realize that the ordinance has nothing but political downside, and quietly abandon it? Or will the smarmy little Kriseman manage to pull something out of his yarmulke and rescue his Adolf Hitler act from oblivion? Here is the (error-filled) story published this morning in the Times.
Postscript: According to a correspondent, news reports of the Birdman's plight were heard as far away as Nova Scotia
A new law: Birdman's letter to the Mayor
The
St Pete Pigeon Flap: A Valedictory
As the World Churns: List of interviews and articles on the Birdman's fight:
St Petersburg Times -
Channel 28 - Interviews on 30 & 31 Oct; stories broadcast Thursday 1 Nov and Friday 2 Nov
Channel 13 - Interview on 6 Nov with Steve Nichols, broadcast 7 Nov; news items broadcast 8 Nov at 6PM and 10PM
Fox Channel 13 story on mayor's veto by Steve Nichols et al - 6 Dec
Channel 9 'Bay News 9' - 7 Dec story on the mayor's veto with a brief appearance by the Birdman and Wifey from an interview the same day
Namefreakery and other synchronicities:
The St PETERSburg Times' URINATION story is by LaPETER
Of the three authors of stories in the St Pete Times, one (Jon) almost had the Birdman's first name; another (Leonora) almost has the wife's first name; the third (Bryan) almost has the Birdman's and wifey's last name for his first.
One of the three City Council members on the subcommittee studying the ordinance (John Bryan) almost has the Birdman's name.
The city has a memorial fountain to Esther Wright, 'the bird lady of St Petersburg', whose behavior was similar to that of the Birdman, who was dubbed by one of the local radio stations several years ago as 'the Birdman of Pinellas County'.
Sunset Park, where the Birdman and his wife fed birds, contains a fountain with the statue of a woman holding in her hand a nest containing three birds. It is unknown whether this statue is a memorial to the above-mentioned Esther Wright.
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