sr-042710-13b13-B
April27, 2010
Council Meeting: April 27, 2010 Santa Monica, California
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE -MEMORANDUM
To: City Council
From: Councilmember McKeown
Date: April 27, 2010
13-B: Request of Councilmember McKeown, pursuant to a recommendation of
the City's Task Force on the Environment, that the Council direct staff to
evaluate amendment or repeal of Municipal Code 4.04.130, regarding
beekeeping, and return to Council with recommendations for possible
action.
13-B
April 27, 2010.
Editorial -New York Welcomes Back Honeybees - NYTimes.com
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Apri14, 2mo
EDITORTAT
Sweet Honey on the Roof
Page 1 of 1
Here's the best news we have heard in a while: keeping honeybees is now legal in New York City. The old
rule was based on a misunderstanding: It lumped honeybees into a long list of wild animals that may not be
kept in the city - outside a zoo -including the hippopotamus and elephant.
Honeybees will sting, if provoked. But their nature is so gentle, their honey sweet, and their moral character
benign and enterprising.
The change has been a long time coming, and it is part of the groundswell in support of local agriculture.
Honeybees are important pollinators for crops of all kinds, and rooftop hives are a good step toward
greening the roofs of this city..There is a honey industry and a pollination industry, but bees really need
more amateur beekeepers, the kind likely to be caring for city hives..
The more bees there are - and the more diverse the circumstances in which they are kept -the better for
the welfare of the species, which recently has been threatened by two kinds of mites and a still poorly
understood syndrome called colony collapse disorder.
City beekeepers will have to register their hives with the health department and make sure that they have
ready access to water. Beekeepers are also required to be able to respond immediately to swarms, which is
just normal good practice in keeping bees. As it happens, most beekeepers are also avid ambassadors from
the domain of the hive: That is just what New Yorkers need in order to rest easy and accept honeybees as
natural and highly beneficial neighbors.
Coovrioht 2010 The New VOrk Times Comoanv
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/opinion/04sun4.htm1?sq=beekeeping&st=&scp=4&p... 4/16/2010
Bees in the-City? New York May Make Hives Legal - NYTimes.com Page 1 of 4
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SF:'hC~RE9 SY
March 14, 2010
fees i the City? New York May Let the
Hives Come Out of Hiding
By MIREYA NAVARRO
Kathleen Boyer suspects the mailman.
She said she could not think of anyone else in her neighborhood who would have complained
about the two beehives she. kept under a pine tree in her front yard in Flatbush, Brooklyn,
leading the ct}~s health department to fine her $z,ooo last fall.
"I was kind of surprised," said Mrs. Boyer, an art director with a media company. "People see
us in our bee suit and they'd bring their kids to watch us and ask us questions."
New York City is among the few jurisdictions in the country that deem beekeeping illegal,
lumping the honeybee together with hyenas, tarantulas, cobras, dingoes and other animals
considered too dangerous or venomous for city life. But the honeybee's bad rap - and the
days of urban beekeepers being outlaws -may soon be over.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's board will take up the issue of
amending the health code to allow residents to keep hives of Apis mellifera, the common,
nonaggressive honeybee.. Health department officials said the change was being considered
after research showed that the reports of bee stings in the city were minimal and that
honeybees did not pose a public health threat.
The officials were also prodded by beekeepers who, in a petition and at a public hearing last
month, argued that their hives promoted sustainable agriculture in the city.
A bang of course, has not deterred many New Yorkers from setting up hives on rooftops and
in yards and community gardens, doing it as a hobby, to pollinate their plants or to earn
extra income from honey. Although the exact number of beekeepers in the city is unknown,
many openly flout the law. They have their own association, hold beekeeping workshops, sell
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html?pagewanted~rint 4/16/2010
Bees in the City? New York May Make Hives Legal - NYTimes:com Page 2 of 4
their honey at farmers' markets and tend to their hives as unapologetically as others might
jaywalk, blaming their legal predicament on people's ignorance of bees.
"People fear that if there's a beehive on their rooftop, they'll be stung," said Andrew Cote,
president of the New York City Beekeepers Association, which was formed two years ago and
has 22o members.
"Honeybees are interested in water, pollen and nectar," he said. "The real danger is the
skewed public perception of the danger of honeybees."
Still, some beekeepers say their renegade status causes headaches.
Sam Elchert, 22, a Columbia University student who is majoring in writing and philosophy,
said it took him months to find a suitable home for his hives, which resemble short wood
filing cabinets with movable frames inside. His building's management turned him down,
fearing legal problems because of the hives, he said. A community garden in Brooklyn
welcomed the hives, but wanted them tucked away in the bushes where they would notget
the sunlight they needed.
A friend of Mr. Elchert's, who owned a brownstone in Manhattan complete with a backyard,
declined to house the hives because his father was a lawyer; Mr. Elchert said. So did
Columbia, where officials in charge of dining services and some green roofs said no, though
they were supportive.
A teacher hosted the bees on her farm in Connecticut for a couple of months while Mr.
Elchert kept up his search for a home for his hives. Finally, in June, a community garden in
Harlem agreed, and Mr. Elchert goes there every other week to tend to the hives. He said
that an article he read last year about beekeeping introduced him to the hobby, which he
finds "oddly relaxing," he said. He said he had also read about declines in the bee population
and wanted to do his part to nurture the insects.
"It is a good cause, and there's some sense of morality, even if we're not on the right side of
the law," he said.
But Mr. Elchert admits that so far he has found his hobby more "nerve-racking" than
relaxing, and inspects the garden only on weekdays to avoid weekend crowds.
"What if somebody, some cop, sees me?" he said. "It'd cost me $2,000. It'd really ruin my
day."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html?pagewanted~rint 4/16/2010
Bees in the City? New York May Make Hives Legal - NYTimea.com Page 3 of 4
Busted beekeepers, as it turns out, are not exactly common. In 2009, 53 inspections. were
conducted in response to calls related to the harboring of bees and wasps, health officials
said, and i3 resulted in notices of violation and fines of $20o to $2,000. In 2008, 48
inspections were made and ~ citations were issued.
Beekeepers say that beekeeping is a relatively low-maintenance. and inexpensive endeavor -
Mr. Elchert said he spent $500 on hives, equipment and about 20,000 bees to start.
Recently, ~o people filled a room in Lower Manhattan for an "Urban Beekeeping ioi"
workshop held by the New York City Beekeepers Association.
The class seemed more concerned about the challenges of keeping hives in tight, tall spaces
than with the legality of beekeeping, asking questions like: "How high should the hives
be?" (About five stories.) And "How much space is needed around the hives so that the bees
can fly out to pollinate?" (At least io feet.)
But some students-were worried about their liability should someone be stung, a hazard that
leads most beekeepers to wear protective gear when they tend their hives.
"I'm not even allowed on the roof of my building," said Matt Griffin, 33, a cook from Queens
who said he would probably wait for the law to change and figure out "a few issues" before
setting up his hives.
Katrinka Moore, 56, a poet and book editor in the financial district, said that if the law
changed, she would ask neighboring churches to host her bees.
That would mean an end to life on the run for Mrs. Boyer's two hives. They are now lodged
with afriend -Mrs. Boyer would not say where -but she plans to retrieve them once they
are legal.
Mrs. Boyer said that she and her husband, Chico, took up beekeeping last year so that they
could teach workshops in Haiti, where Mr. Boyer was born.
The earthquake has delayed the couple's plans, but their hives are thriving with 80,000 bees
that have yielded more than ioo pounds of honey.
"We gave it to friends for Christmas," Mrs. Boyer said. "They love it. Everybody is asking for
more.
Ms. Moore said that after working in advocacy against gas drilling in upstate New York, she
looked to beekeeping for some relief.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html?pagewanted=print 4/16/2010
Bees in the City? New York May Make Hives Legal - NYTimescom Page 4 of 4
She said: "You get honey. You're also pollinating gardens. It's such a positive, happy thing to
do."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html?pagewanted=print 4/16/2010
Obama family joins the growing ranks of Americans engaged in the emerging
backyard beekeeping movement
When Michelle Obama gave her thumbs up to an organic garden at the White House,
complete with two bee hives, amateur beekeepers around America took notice..
"The inclusion of two beehives in the White House garden sends a very powerful
message about the importance of bees to our food supply," says Karen Wasmer, a
mentor to new beekeepers who became a beekeeper to aid in the pollination of her
organic crops {http://www.kw~iary.com). "I look forward to mentoring more new
beekeepers," says Ms. Wasmer, who offers classes to beekeepers as young as age 10
through the Northeast Florida Honey Bee Association (www.nelfhba.com).
"Local beekeeping is the vibrant point where environmentalism, gardening and. the local
food movement intersect," says Guillermo Fernandez of The Honeybee Conservancy, a
charitable environmental organization working to protect bees. "Nearly one-third of the
United State's crops rely on bees for pollination, yet close to one-fourth of the nation's
commercial honey bees have vanished in recent years. Americans in cities from New
York to Los Angeles, have flocked to the idea of small-scale beekeeping as a way to
help save our bees and-like the Obamas-to pollinate their crops and generate some
free local honey in the process!"
A new underground environmental movement has been afoot in communities across
America: beekeeping. Membership in amateur beekeeping groups on social networking
sites like Meetup.com and Yahoo Groups have been surging in cities such as New York,
Los Angeles and Chicago. Amateur beekeepers across the U.S, have recently lobbied to
overturn city ordinances outlawing beekeeping. As a result of lobbying, beekeeping was
decriminalized in Denver during November 2008. In New York City, beekeepers and
food activists have been working with the City Council to pass a law legalizing
beekeeping in The Big Apple.
"We have been seeing a huge uptick in our beginning classes since 2008" says Leslie
Huston, a beekeeper and representative from Bee-Commerce, a national beekeeping.
supply store located in Weston, CT. "People are beekeeping as a way to help the bees
and to pollinate their gardens. Business has been good, which in this economy is
great."
From: www.thehoneybeeconservancy.org retrieved on April 19, 2010