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Weavers Way Co-op Puts Chickens Back in Philadelphia Backyards — If Only for April 1

PHILADELPHIA, March 31, 2014 — In honor of April Fools’ Day, the April 2014 edition of the Weavers Way Co-op newspaper, The Shuttle, has a joke front page.

Are we kidding? Not exactly. The April Fools’ Page 1 features a wish list of progress in food justice, environmental protection and social equity.

“I thought it would be fun to do an April Fools’ issue,” said Shuttle Editor Mary Sweeten. “And I thought it would be really fun if the fake stories reflected the world we wish we lived in.”

The lead story on the April Fools’ front page celebrates the legalization of backyard chickens in Philadelphia. It coincides with a real campaign the Co-op is gearing up for in 2014, in conjunction with the activist group Philadelphia Backyard Chickens, to urge City Council to reverse the 2004 ban on keeping hens at home.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, Weavers Way’s Pet Store in Mt. Airy sells about $2,500 worth of chicken feed and supplies monthly — certainly only to educational institutions, zoos and animal shelters, to owners of three-acre properties, and to people who live in the suburbs.)

“Philadelphia is way behind on this,” said Weavers Way General Manager Glenn Bergman. “All the largest cities in the United States allow backyard chickens. If I can keep chickens in Queens, why not in Mt. Airy? They eat bugs and food scraps. They provide eggs. They don’t smell and they aren’t noisy — they’re certainly no noisier than dogs.”

Bergman, a former chef (and dog lover) who knows his way around a chicken coop, wrote his monthly column for the non-April Fool’s Shuttle (which starts on Page 2) on the reasons chickens should be legal. Other municipalities, he noted, have enacted sensible flock-size, setback and chicken-welfare regulations in line with what works for more conventional pets — or horses, which are allowed in Philadelphia on properties of a quarter-acre or more. In fact, Philadelphia already has noise and nuisance ordinances that would apply to any chicken owners who let their poultry run amok.

Other “in your dreams” developments in the April Fools’ Shuttle are a ban on plastic bags, a tax on sugary sodas, an end to natural-gas fracking, legalization of gay marriage in Pennsylvania, funding for Philadelphia’s public schools and a beautiful new production kitchen for Weavers Way. We can hope, can’t we?

The Shuttle is published on the first of the month. It’s free and is available in all Weavers Way stores, at selected locations throughout Northwest Philadelphia, and via mail. A PDF replicacan be viewed at www.weaversway.coop/shuttle.

About Weavers Way: Founded in 1973 as a neighborhood buying club, “the Co-op” now encompasses two grocery stores, two specialty wellness and beauty shops and a pet store in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill. Weavers Way is member-owned, open to the public and committed to offering quality products that are local, sustainable and nutritious. For more information, visit www.weaversway.coop.

Learn more about Philadelphia Backyard Chickens at their Facebook page, or contact head chick Maureen Breen atLegalPhillyHen@gmail.com.

Weavers Way Co-op Puts Chickens Back in Philadelphia Backyards — If Only for April 1

PHILADELPHIA, March 31, 2014 — In honor of April Fools’ Day, the April 2014 edition of the Weavers Way Co-op newspaper, The Shuttle, has a joke front page.

Are we kidding? Not exactly. The April Fools’ Page 1 features a wish list of progress in food justice, environmental protection and social equity.

“I thought it would be fun to do an April Fools’ issue,” said Shuttle Editor Mary Sweeten. “And I thought it would be really fun if the fake stories reflected the world we wish we lived in.”

The lead story on the April Fools’ front page celebrates the legalization of backyard chickens in Philadelphia. It coincides with a real campaign the Co-op is gearing up for in 2014, in conjunction with the activist group Philadelphia Backyard Chickens, to urge City Council to reverse the 2004 ban on keeping hens at home.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, Weavers Way’s Pet Store in Mt. Airy sells about $2,500 worth of chicken feed and supplies monthly — certainly only to educational institutions, zoos and animal shelters, to owners of three-acre properties, and to people who live in the suburbs.)

“Philadelphia is way behind on this,” said Weavers Way General Manager Glenn Bergman. “All the largest cities in the United States allow backyard chickens. If I can keep chickens in Queens, why not in Mt. Airy? They eat bugs and food scraps. They provide eggs. They don’t smell and they aren’t noisy — they’re certainly no noisier than dogs.”

Bergman, a former chef (and dog lover) who knows his way around a chicken coop, wrote his monthly column for the non-April Fool’s Shuttle (which starts on Page 2) on the reasons chickens should be legal. Other municipalities, he noted, have enacted sensible flock-size, setback and chicken-welfare regulations in line with what works for more conventional pets — or horses, which are allowed in Philadelphia on properties of a quarter-acre or more. In fact, Philadelphia already has noise and nuisance ordinances that would apply to any chicken owners who let their poultry run amok.

Other “in your dreams” developments in the April Fools’ Shuttle are a ban on plastic bags, a tax on sugary sodas, an end to natural-gas fracking, legalization of gay marriage in Pennsylvania, funding for Philadelphia’s public schools and a beautiful new production kitchen for Weavers Way. We can hope, can’t we?

The Shuttle is published on the first of the month. It’s free and is available in all Weavers Way stores, at selected locations throughout Northwest Philadelphia, and via mail. A PDF replicacan be viewed at www.weaversway.coop/shuttle.

About Weavers Way: Founded in 1973 as a neighborhood buying club, “the Co-op” now encompasses two grocery stores, two specialty wellness and beauty shops and a pet store in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill. Weavers Way is member-owned, open to the public and committed to offering quality products that are local, sustainable and nutritious. For more information, visit www.weaversway.coop.

Learn more about Philadelphia Backyard Chickens at their Facebook page, or contact head chick Maureen Breen atLegalPhillyHen@gmail.com.

WW Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for September 10, 2024, at Summit Church in Mt Airy. Please email the Board Admin to join the meeting.

WW Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for September 10, 2024, at Summit Church in Mt Airy. Please email the Board Admin to join the meeting.

WW Board Meeting

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for September 10, 2024, at Summit Church in Mt Airy. Please email the Board Admin to join the meeting.

Weavers Way Co-op Launches Project to Encourage 'New Economy'

PHILADELPHIA, March 17, 2013 — Weavers Way Co-op is launching a new program dedicated to the study and promotion of co-operative economies with a showing Thursday, March 20, of “The Next American Revolution,” a 47-minute film lecture featuring Gar Alperovitz, noted historian, political economist and activist.  The screening, open to the public, will be in the Carriage House at Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Ave., at 7 p.m.

“The phenomenal success of Weavers Way clearly demonstrates possibilities for wealth creation through the democratization of ownership," said Weavers Way Board Member Chris Hill. "The cooperative business model can be applied to a whole range of enterprises beyond food markets. Encouraging all kinds of co-op startups in our area would have the potential to impact our local economy in significant and very positive ways.”

The program, dubbed “The New Economy Project,” is co-chaired by Hill and longtime Weavers Way member Herb Levine. Levine recently retired as Executive Director of the Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness in Lawrenceville, NJ. “My long-time work on homelessness both in Northwest Philadelphia and regionally has shown me the profound need for job creation," he said. "Gar Alperovitz’s work in helping to create Evergreen Cooperative Ventures in Cleveland could be an inspiration to those of us living in Northwest Philadelphia who are committed to democratic principles and want to participate in generating what Alperovitz terms ‘community-sustaining economies.’ ”

The film grew out of ideas Alperovitz has promoted for more than a decade in such books as "America Beyond Capitalism: Reclaiming Our Wealth, Our Liberty and Our Democracy" and the recent "What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk About the Next American Revolution." Alperovitz, a founder of the Democracy Collaborative (community-wealth.org), has just launched a new website “The Pluralist Commonwealth.” (www.pluralistcommonwealth.org) In his books and activism, Alperovitz has highlighted a path that is neither unbridled capitalism nor state socialism, but a third way that is embodied in worker-owned, cooperative enterprises.

An open discussion will follow the film showing, and attendees will be invited to join the project and help plan future events designed to support the proliferation of collectively owned local businesses in Philadelphia.  A plan for a subsequent event showcasing a variety of existing co-ops in our area is already under way.

To learn more about Gar Alperovitz: Visit his website atgaralperovitz.com.

About Weavers Way:  Founded in 1973 as a neighborhood buying club, “the Co-op” now encompasses two grocery stores, two specialty wellness and beauty shops and a pet store in Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill. Weavers Way is member-owned, open to the public and committed to offering quality products that are local, sustainable and nutritious. For more information, visit www.weaversway.coop.

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