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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 she ~~tu orl~~rs 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 Privacy Policy Terms of Service ~ Search Corteclions ! RSS i ~ First Look ~ Helo ~ Contact Us ~ Work for Us Sd 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 ~ ~~ ~ ~~ Reprints This copy i$ for your personal,-noncommercial use only. You can order presentztion-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Vsit www.nytrepriniecom for samples and additional information Order a reprint of this article now. rxere feranoc~ merrx= FI1~4 FESTIk!#~. 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