Good morning friends, Thank you for supporting our cause. As a result of our collective effort, The City of Elmhurst has released a Q&A memo in response to the CBS News piece done on our family's back yard hoop house. It was published to their website after close of business Friday, January 6th, 2017. It is incomplete and inaccurate, and designed to mislead. Bottom line: We can't give up the fight just yet. Here's what you can do to keep things moving along. Elmhurst Residents - Call 3-5 Aldermen. Keep track of your phone calls (who you called and when.) If they do not respond, then send follow up emails. Keep track of those too. Then come to City Hall for the next City Council Meeting on Tuesday, January 17th, 2017 @ 7:30 PM, City Hall, 209 N York, Elmhurst. The public speaking forum is first - so have your notes. The more people that show up, the better. For those who are not Elmhurst residents - Call City Hall as many times as you have time to do between Monday January 9th and 17th. Ask for the City Manager, or Code Enforcement. Tell them that you would not want to move to or shop in a City that treats its residents this way. That government is supposed to be for the people, the environment, and to protect people's rights, not crush them. (You get the idea.) If no one from code enforcement or the City manager's office will talk to you, then ask to leave a message - and say everything that you believe. The City's Q&A memo is available here: http://www.elmhurst.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1437 Below are my comments and corrections. A greenhouse, as defined by the City of Elmhurst, does not serve the purpose of those who are trying to grow during the summer. The issue is not about "greenhouses" per se, it about the willingness of government to work with residents to allow for the safe operation of benign activities on their own property. As codes always lag behind the advancement of technology, they will need to be updated from time to time to keep pace. In the case of Elmhurst City Government, their personal opinions manipulated the entire process from start to finish, so that no opportunity was given for us, the homeowner, to amend the code to provide for this activity. Why? Because they never wanted it in the first place.>> First they told us that the hoop house IS OK (Nov. 2015), as long as it is temporary. Then they tell us it is OK a 2nd time (Oct. 2016) until, wait a minute! They swivel and tell us that we should have applied for a permit, but "whoops, it's too late, you should have done it back when we told you that you didn't need one." Then they tell everyone else in their published memo that hoop houses are not permissible at all. The bottom line is certain individuals in City government don't want them because they believe they are ugly. They say whatever seems expedient at that moment - but in the long run, will not facility updating the codes, or protecting our property rights (in so far as we do not hurt others.) Text amendments are allowable, they say, in their published Q&A. What they are leaving out is the part where the text amendment costs the homeowner $6,500 out of pocket with no guarantee of success. Alternately, you can ask two aldermen (who won't return your calls or emails) to sponsor the idea. So HOW IN THE WORLD are you supposed to accomplish this text amendment? I'm supposed to pay $6,500 out of pocket to MAYBE have the right to have a temporary, harmless, silent, odorless garden cover in my backyard??? The first code referenced is in regard to permanent buildings. I would not want a permanent structure made out of a membrane either. It would not last. The second code is in relation to dwellings, and seems to be aimed at things that people are going to live in. When this was pointed out to the City Manager, he said that "We apply codes intended for one thing, to other things all the time." We would love the opportunity to work with the City of Elmhurst to help update the codes to provide for modern gardening methods that support local food, longer growing seasons, sustainability, private property rights and neighborliness. This is the time to work together. Everyone knows what is right. Let's just get it done. Thank you for your time and support.