How long until there is a effort to ban beekeeping in NYC?

[robo]

Brian Porr has been calling authorities to complain about his neighbors’ bee-keeping hobby for three years and no one did anything. But on Wednesday the hives were hard to ignore as the bees swarmed, forcing the closure of an Astoria street for most of the day.

A U.S. Postal Service delivery man was the first to spot a tree on 48th Street covered with bees and immediately called 911 around 11 a.m.

Porr’s sister-in-law, AnnMarie Giganti, had just turned her car onto the block when she saw the scene.

“I couldn’t believe it, there were bees everywhere, the mailman was afraid to move,” she said.

The NYPD arrived and kept everyone back while they waited for the Police Department’s BeeKeeper to arrive. When the removal specialist went to work with a suctioning machine, it took him hours to clear the tree of an estimated 20,000 bees.

“This neighbor keeps two hives on his roof and this morning a queen bee left and the entire hive followed her right to the tree,” Porr said. “For three years I’ve called everyone from the politicians to 311. We tried everything and nobody helped.”

Porr lives so close to the hives he can see them from the kitchen. -  OMG 

“It’s a quality of life issue; we can’t ever use the backyard,” he said. - Bees don't fly at night

Giganti, whose family lives the same two-family home as Porr, said her two boys don’t like to go outside.

“My youngest is allergic to bee stings so he never goes out there,” she said. “We can’t even put up a pool this summer. Last year it was always full of dead bees because they come when they’re thirsty.”

The Astoria residents said they are frequently told when they complain that it is legal in New York state to keep bee hives on private property if they’re properly registered.

“It’s very frustrating as a homeowner that the city allows this in a residential neighborhood,” Giganti said.

But the bee population won’t likely be bothering the families - at least a while.

“They filled two twenty pound bags of bees this afternoon,” Porr said.  - Now that's a SWARM!


http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2014/19/astoriabeeswarm_web_2014_05_07_q.html

[CpnObvious]

OH, THE HUMANITY!!!


“They filled two twenty pound bags of bees this afternoon,” Porr said.  - Now that's a SWARM!

I have a feeling the bees didn't get properly relocated.  So, because or Porr, there was a loss of 20,000+ lives... but THAT'S ok? 

[blueblood]

Oh my word.  I have heard there is quite a trend of keeping bee farms on the roof tops as of late in NYC.  A friend told me they saw a PBS special on it lately.  I have not been able to find it though.  It's possible it wasn't PBS also.

[Slowmodem]

I think everyone should visit NYC at least once.  It sure made me appreciate living in TN!

As to the story, perhaps the beekeeper should keep the neighbor supplied with honey.  (and take more swarm prevention measures)(unless this was an absconding event).

[iddee]

It looks more like a foraging event to me. The tree in the pic is in full bloom. Read the comment. I won't say who Mr. Sweeney is. 

You may want to leave a comment, too.

[kebee]

 New York, yes I know New York, worked there as an electrician  for 9 mths with the local union, lived in Manhattan for 4 mths in an hotel which cost a fortune and than move to the Bronx in a jewish community which was aok, loved the money I made but was glad to leave the place and come back home. I sure would not live there now or even go there to work now.

Ken

[robo]

It looks more like a foraging event to me. The tree in the pic is in full bloom. Read the comment. I won't say who Mr. Sweeney is. 

You may want to leave a comment, too.

Mr. Sweeney was spot on, I see other good responses as well 

[Slowmodem]

Steini from NYC says:
20,000 bees weigh in at 40 lbs? That would make 1 gram bees! A typical honeybee worker should weighs about a 10th of a gram. Your math is off by an order of a magnitude...

Steini started out OK, but lost me in the conversion to metric. 

[apisbees]

It is a swarm that is in the little picture on the right
http://www.timesledger.com/assets/photos/2014/19/astoriabeeswarm_web_2014_05_07_q1_royrenna-bmrbreakingnews_z.jpg
Why vacuum when with 1 good smack you could have them all in a box.
But for us that keep bees in a urban environment we do need to be mindful of our neighbors and keep out bees under control. No swarms, clear flight paths up and over neighbors heads and so they are not agitated by the neighbors doing yard work or enjoying their back yards, water to keep them out of area pools.

[leymanaide]

In my town you must own 3 acres to have a bee hive.  They slipped some boiler plate into the town regulations from somewhere. This is becoming more and more a problem.  It is legal in the city of Philadelphia on any property.

[Barbarian]

In my location there is a lot of housing. I suppose you could call the area suburban.

Each year I get calls to deal with swarms in domestic housing property. Some of the calls are about swarms that have gone into wall cavities or disused chimneys. The local building materials are brick or stone so a cut out is not an option. I'm a no go in respect of ladders so a trap out is not an alternative. I don't know of any keeps who do trap outs. The usual advice to the caller is that the bees will do no damage and to leave them alone if they are not a nuisance. I have a suspicion that a lot of these swarms are destroyed although quite a fewl pest firms will not destroy bees.

A partial solution for me, is to place bait hives at different locations at the start of the swarming season. I hope that a swarm will go into a bait hive rather than go into a wall cavity.

[apisbees]

Were allowed 2 hives and 2 nucs on a city property, unless you are covered by the grand fauther clause and had more bees than that before they passed the bylaw. Part of the problem with the bees in the city and being against the bylaws is that it got put in when the sections on chickens and rabbets were entered into the city books and these were problematic and undesirable with in the city.
In the city 30 miles south bees are not permitted as the bylaws are written now on lots under 1/2 acre, No one in the city has a problem with having the lot size clause removed from the bylaw concerning the keeping of bees but changing that one sub-line for bees will require them to vote on the bylaw that contains all the domestic farm animals on small lots. A few years back they had a change in counsel with enough of the new members only objective was to change the animal bylaw so the could keep their back yard chickens. No limit on their numbers and that they could also keep rosters. It took to the next election for the members of the community to not reelect these counselors to get the bylaw changed and at that time the lot size for domestic animals was set and the no roster was implemented. the problem the lot size also effects bees so if a neighbors has a problem with them in your yard the bylaw is against you. and although no one on counsel has a issue with bees on smaller lots no one wants to open the domestic animal bylaw because of the chicken debate. As soon as the bylaw is brought up before counsel submissions for amendment to any section of the domestic animal could be submitted and the  chicken debate would come up again and no one in counsel or at city hall wants to reopen that can of worms.