A northern Michigan business is closing its doors after a city banned bird feeders downtown.
Nicole Bromley says she's been feeding birds in downtown Manistee for 13 years and hasn't had any problems until recently.
Earlier this month, the City of Manistee changed the language in an ordinance that said people can't feed "mammals" to "animals," making bird feeders illegal in the downtown district.
The agenda and minutes for the Feb. 6 city council meeting described the language change as "addressing issues with bird feeders in the Downtown District."
"This is just ridiculous, we're the only ones in town with a bird feeder," Bromley said. "There is no other place on River Street, besides us that has one."
Bromley, who owns the Gold and Silver Exchange, said she feels like the city is "bullying" her. She points to a $250 ticket she got for "littering" bird seed.
Bromley said the ordinance was the final straw that led her to close her business.
"We're the kids on the school ground that are getting picked on," she said. "We're too old, we're not playing high school games."
The city council unanimously passed the ordinance change as part of its consent agenda on Feb. 6, with seven "ayes" from David Bachman, Wesley Smith, Cindy Lundberg, Jermaine Sullivan, Seth Pratt, James Grabowski and Martin Pontiac.
The Manistee city manager, police chief and two council members did not respond to WCMU's requests for comment.
In an email to WCMU, council member Bachman said he was "not a spokesperson" for the council and declined to elaborate on the reasoning behind the ordinance.
Bachman affirmed he "wished it never would have gotten to us [the city council]" and stood by a previous comment he made that described the ordinance as a "win-lose" situation.
"I always look for the win-win when I am involved in these types of issues," Bachman wrote. "However, my job on council does not place me in the day-to-day operations and conflict resolution at that level."
According to the Manistee News Advocate, city manager Bill Gambill said at a Jan. 16 council meeting, "...just in general, I think there have been a lot of complaints about people hitting their head on bird feeders downtown."
Bromley said she's not been made aware of any formal reports against the bird feeders.
"Tell us who's complaining," Bromley said. "We changed the style of bird feeder, we changed the style of bird feed because they said, 'the little tiny pellets get into people's shoes and track in,' so we changed it to sunflower seeds."
The Gold and Silver Exchange will close its doors Feb. 29. Bromley said she's not sure yet if she will relocate outside of downtown (where bird feeders above four feet are allowed), but said she would reopen her current location if the city rescinded the updated ordinance.
“We don't want to have to [close down], but how can we keep paying these stupid fines?" Bromley said. "I mean, it's like we walk out the door, we get a ticket. They're making our life miserable."
