Chicken slaughtering goes to council

Sito Negron

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 9:32 a.m.

A controversy over whether to allow the slaughter of live chickens at Liborio Market has mellowed into a discussion about how many birds the grocery can have on-site each day.

In the fall, more than 100 people packed Las Vegas City Council chambers to argue the pros and cons of allowing the practice of killing birds on-site. The council decided then to set up an application process for stores that wished to do so.

Come Wednesday, Liborio Market, which started the discussion, will seek the first such permit from the City Council. In doing so, it will ask for waivers that allow delivery of up to 300 chickens at a time, instead of the 50-chicken-per-day limit, to allow delivery from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., and to keep chickens overnight.

"Over here (in Los Angeles) we process hundreds of chickens a day, and the permit that they (Las Vegas city officials) firstly approved is for 50, which is nothing in terms of the volume we anticipate," said Miguel Herrera, director of marketing for Liborio Markets, which has five stores in Los Angeles and one in Las Vegas, at 930 N. Lamb Blvd.

But, Herrera said, the market is trying to be a good neighbor and a good resident in the city:

"We did not get to this level by doing wrong things or breaking the law and we don't plan to do it now. So we will do whatever they say."

The Planning Department, which recommended allowing the permit process with the limitations, likely will recommend that tje council stick to the original requirements with a six-month or yearlong period in which to assess the market's performance.

"The ordinance is brand new,"said Las Vegas Planning Director Robert Genzer. "They agreed to the conditions, so we ought to abide by them at least during some trial period and see if there are any issues.

"If there aren't any (problems) after the trial period, then come back in and see."

The city staff recommended approving the permit to slaughter chickens, without allowing the waivers, during a Planning Commission meeting, but the commission recommended allowing the waivers on a 4-2 vote.

Ward 3 Councilman Gary Reese said he supports the market, although he's not sure about waivers so early on.

"This is an untested product in the city of Las Vegas," Reese said. "You're never going to be able to see the chickens, hear the chickens or smell the chickens -- supposedly. That's why I'd like to have the health district watch them, and see the track record."

The concern over how to dispose of waste was a major issue for neighbors and community activists.

Linda Faso was one of those who wondered how feathers, guts and other debris from slaughtered chickens would be eliminated.

"It's not going to be overseen properly," Faso predicted. "There's no way anyone can monitor the process, the slaughtering, how many birds are there."

Genzer said he visited Liborio's markets in Los Angeles.

"They have a separate sink only used for this, and a container to put the refuse in and then it's disposed of each day. It's very well-controlled by the health district," Genzer said.

The market features food, fresh and canned, from all over the world, with an emphasis on Latin products. The meat department, Herrera said, has more than 20 butchers.

"I as a Cuban may order a cut of steak that you may not know the name of if you don't belong to my country. But you could come in with a different name for the same cut of meat," Herrera said. "We had to have the people to understand."