No one really knows how long chickens have been roaming Ybor City. I’d guess they have been there since the late 1800s, but I know I have seen them strutting around Ybor for the last 25 years or so, which makes the “Chickens of Ybor City” an older franchise than many of the businesses currently found on 7th Avenue.
But now, someone wants to get rid of the chickens. In fact, someone or something has killed at least one hen and her chicks. So now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has shown up in Ybor to catch some of them chickens with a plan to move them to Pasco and Polk Counties, in the hopes that no more chickens get harmed (or so they say).
Tommy doesn’t want any part of that. Tommy has lived in Ybor for over 20 years. He helped found the Historic Ybor Neighborhood Association, and is one of the founders of Guavaween. For the past ten years(well, most years), he also hosted the annual James E. Rooster Funeral Procession and Party. And Tommy likes feeding the chickens. Oh, and everyone calls him ‘Rooster Tommy.’
Lots of folks like the chickens. Artists and tourists love to photograph the chickens of Ybor City. When writing about the culture of Ybor, workers mention the chickens. Hundreds have gathered at Tommy’s rooster funeral parties to celebrate the Chickens of Ybor City. (Yes, Arroz con Pollo is on the menu.)
So, of course, now we have all the makings of a chicken protest party. The party will be this Sunday, November 16 at around halftime of the Bucs game. Or maybe just following the Bucs game. At any rate, please make a note of it, because the Times article has the wrong day. The chicken protest will be held on Sunday, November 16, exactly at 2:30, give or take 90 minutes either way.
Editor’s note: Don’t sweat the time thing – time barely matters in Ybor City. Otherwise we’d know when the damn chickens got there in the first place. Also, if you have read this far, you may as well read the last bit. Anyone got a better name for a “chicken protest party?”
Tino
1 year ago
I would rather see the worthless vermin that panhandle and harass yborgoers rounded up and dropped off in Pasco and Polk counties…
David Jenkins
1 year ago
Another problem with the condos and people who just moved there to move there with no regard for the actual neighborhood and the history it holds.
Nagging over noise and traffic (did they have any idea where they were moving?), now the chickens, next it’ll be petitions to asphalt over the brick streets …
Clyde
1 year ago
Call in some veterans of the Key West chicken wars! They can help..
Bruce
1 year ago
For years I have enjoyed the Rooster Parties. James E Rooster is a legacy. I moved away. For the last 2 years I have traveled 376 miles for the celebration. I love to watch the chickens. It is tranquilizing. James E Rooster is a tourist attraction to Ybor City. Hundreds of people just show up. Please do not kill the Institution.
Dorothy
1 year ago
I can’t believe anyone would want to harm Tommy’s chickens. I think there is other things in Ybor that are more important on changing, then getting rid of a bunch of chickens.
Manny Leto
1 year ago
Livestock, including chickens and roosters, has always been part of the fabric of Ybor. Early settlers-immigrants- maintained small subsistence farms in their back yards, growing herbs, vegetables and fruits. Some, especially the Italians, who grouped east of 18th Street, maintained small farms. Head east of 22nd and you’ll notice the lot sizes increase somewhat compared to those in other parts of Ybor. Immigrants in this area were farmers who peddled their goods throughout the rest of Ybor.
The roosters are just one of Ybor’s many unique charms. If you want pristine homogeneity then consider living elsewhere.
Manny Leto,
Editor,
Cigar City Magazine
Pam
1 year ago
Tommy, thanks for clarifying the time. We had a sweet retired doctor show up this afternoon at 3:00 for the protest due to the bad date in the St. Pete Times. It’s this Sunday Nov 16th. behind the houses at 19th St. and 5th Ave. Thanks for everyone’s support. I met with the trapper this afternoon. At this point he is trapping, tagging and releasing the chickens back into the neighborhood. He will be tracking them in the future. He likes the chickens but had a job to do. Intially, Mike Martinez came to Ybor City 1 1/2 wks ago to trap and remove chickens based on complaints received, one saying chickens were a nuisance to customers at a certain bar on Seventh Ave. There were other nonsense complaints but it is evident they were coordinated by 4 individuals. We now have a bigger problem. The situation has now advanced to an investigation of people poison/killing the chickens based on finding dead chickens. We found a dead chicken on the side of the railroad tracks this afternoon. Because he isn’t currently trapping and removing the chickens doesn’t mean the threat is gone. The complaints will still come. We need your support. He has already removed and relocated approx 12 from my block previous to today. They DID go to chicken sanctuaries and yes there is such a thing. Who knew??! Until we can have a boundry defined “Ybor City Chicken Friendly District” the chickens are not protected. We will have a petition available for attendees to sign at our protest event. We will march down the sidewalk on Seventh Ave somewhere around 3:00pm depending on the Buc’s halftime. We’ll have protest signs available or bring your own.
Pam
1 year ago
Thanks for the shout out Manny!! Come see us Sunday. Rooster Tommy called Rafael Martinez-Ybor yesterday and asked him if he knew how long chickens had been in Ybor City. Rafael is up in the years but remembered having them in his yard as a child. He said his grandfather Vincent Martinez-Ybor, the founder of Ybor City, came to Ybor City with them in 1886. Our Ybor City chickens today are about the only Ybor City decendents still living there.
Jose
1 year ago
David -
99% of us living in Ybor love the chickens and the brick streets. We are not OK with EXCESIVE noise blasting from clubs … why should we, it’s them who are at fault, by law, look it up. In any rate, my point is, people who live in Ybor love Ybor the way it is. If anyone is trying to get rid of the chickens , my guess is, is someone who is really disgruntled about their lawn being ripped up. And I think I have a guess of who it was…
manny Leto
1 year ago
Just to clarify and pick up on Pam’s comments, the birds have been here from the start; as long as people have lived in Ybor.
The trick with Ybor is getting all these different factions to co-exist. Regarding noise, I’ve been to cities all over the country with night clubs that don’t blast their neighbors out of their homes. Keep your club inside your club. don’t trash the place with flyers and don’t make me listen to your crappy cover band 6 blocks away. You know, simple stuff.
Pam
1 year ago
Jose, I know who you are talking about. I think so too. One of your neighbors saw them taking pictures of the area between the street and sidewalk. After 2 years of these lawyers that live outside of Ybor but have an office here and are constantly replacing grass, one would think they were smart enough to realize the grubs are killing their grass and when the grass is dead, the chickens will then rip it to pieces looking for the grubs. Kill the grubs for goodness sakes. Then re-plant your grass.
There seems to be possibly of 4 people that got together to bring us to where we are today.
Wouldn’t surprise me if your “brick street and crosswalk because I hate the noise corner neighbor” wasn’t involved either. We’ve had reports…………
Prayer over my desk at work:
Lord
May those that love us walk staight and upright
and those that don’t,
Please turn their ankles so that we may recognize them by their limp.
Amen
Look for 4 limping men in Ybor City!!!!!
Jose
1 year ago
Pam you crack me up! LONG LIVE THE CHICKENS!
test
1 year ago
test
birdflu
1 year ago
Could Bird Flu wipe out Florida and the World because of chickens?
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
What are wildfowl?
Wild Duck aka Fowl in the wild.
http://www.yourdictionary.com/wildfowl
Who is the Mayor Pam Iorio?
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/19/Hillsborough/Tampa_officials_grapp.shtml
Tampa officials grapple with ethics issues
Is is possible this is fiction?
almost anything is possible including Florida elections
with hanging chads, Confederate Flag (secede from the Union the SECOND TIME) by I-4, etc.
Do most other major cities in the U.S. have a different policy?
Boston: If council prevails, chickens won’t come home to roost
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/09/18/if_council_prevails_chickens_wont_come_home_to_roost/
Are all international TOURISTS warned about Ybor City?
Canada: Backyard chickens raise avian flu risk, say experts
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/03/12/bc-chickenflocks.html
Are chickens as pets really safe?
http://www.al.com/specialreport/mobileregister/?regulations.html
Chickens are safer than many other pets, so why not let them stay?
Chickens aren’t weird OR are they?
http://www.theledger.com/article/20081118/NEWS/811180275/1410?Title=WEIRD_NEWS__Ybor_City_Marches_to_Save_Its_Wild_Chickens
Is Bird Flu a Virus of our own hatching?
http://www.birdflubook.com/a.php?id=47
America’s Soft Underbelly
Since politicians have nothing to fear, should POLITICIANS keep chickens
at her office building?
How dare the Japanese ban OUR chickens. Shall we ban all Japanese
computers, cars, software and cooking equipment?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/japan-bans-american-chicken-after-latest-outbreak-of-bird-flu-569330.html
Japan bans American chicken after latest outbreak of bird flu
birdflu
1 year ago
Where do EPIDEMICS start?
http://fmel.ifas.ufl.edu/fmbuzz/jdchikv.htm
The swampy areas – Florida.
How many EPIDEMICS in Florida?
Florida experienced widespread yellow fever and dengue epidemics.
Chikungunya virus in Florida: Lessons from Italy, 2007
New Orleans was flooded (like in the Bible) by Hurricane
Katrina caused by ‘act of God.’
Federal Gov’t Levees and walls broke like the Minneapolis
Bridge Collapse.
http://birdflubook.com/a.php?id=114
In a sense, pandemics aren’t born—they’re made.
Florida has many retirees, some over age NINETY.
Have retirees known about the “PURPLE DEATH”?
“Humanity has but three great enemies: fever, famine and war;
of these by far the greatest, by far the most terrible, is fever.”
—Sir William Osler
1.)war -Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, pirates in Africa.
2.)famine – recession – Gas prices $4-5 per gallon
3.)fever – DO CHICKENS COME HOME TO REST?
http://birdflubook.com/a.php?id=2
“symptoms like fingers and gen***ls turning black,
and people reporting being able to literally smell the body
decaying before the patient died.
“When you’re ill like that you don’t care,” recalls one
flu survivor, now 100 years old. “You don’t care if you live or die.”
It CANNOT and will not happen to me; perhaps others?
In 1918, half the world became infected and
25% of all Americans fell ill.
Is this a DETECTIVE STORY?
Here was a mass murderer that was around 80 years ago
and who’s never been brought to justice.
And what we’re trying to do is find the murderer.”
—Jeffery Taubenberger, molecular pathologist and arche-virologist
Let’s abolish the EPC by Brian Blair!?
http://www.epchc.org/
Let’s LAYOFF the Scientists, Professors and Doctors involved!?
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=101819
Budget cuts, brain drain, drown Florida universities
WP
1 year ago
Perhaps this woman lives in Ybor?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf8FQYv9lD4
S R Taylor
1 year ago
Chickens destroy yards and can carry diseases to pets and people. They poop everywhere, possibly where there are children playing. And there’s the fact that there are reports that people are purposefully killing off chickens. I, Sami (I am a girl, thank you very much) say, for our safety and the chickens, round ‘em up and put them on a farm, not in a city where they can be run over by some idiot speeding. Thanks
Alan
1 year ago
I just moved to Ybor on Jan 10, 2009 (into a condo, no less) from Tucson. The chickens of Ybor are one more item that make the place unique. I enjoy watching them (some have beautiful plummage) and (after just a couple of mornings) I got used to them crowing in the morning. The chicks and cocks need to stay and I’ll be one who takes to the streets if anyone tries to remove them. Keep Ybor Unique!