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Legalize Urban Beekeeping in Los Angeles!!
  1. Signatures
    1,488 out of 8,000
    Petitioning
    1. Los Angeles City Council (+ 14 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Los Angeles City Council
      • Jan Perry (District 9)
      • Tom LaBonge (District 4)
      • Herb J. Wesson, Jr. (District 10)
      • Paul Koretz (District 5)
      • Bill Rosendahl (District 11)
      • Tony Cardenas (District 6)
      • Mitchell Englander (District 12)
      • Richard Alarcon (District 7)
      • Eric Garcetti (District 13)
      • Jose Huizar (District 14)
      • Ed Reyes (District 1)
      • Bernard Parks (District 8)
      • Paul Krekorian (District 2)
      • Dennis P. Zine (District 3)
  2. Created By
    Chelsea McFarland
    Los Angeles, CA
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
Why This Is Important

Over the last three years, more than one in three honeybee colonies collapsed nationwide, a phenomenon now called Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. According to the USDA, about one-third of our food is thanks to the work of bees, making CCD one of the broadest environmental and food security challenges of our time. And while there is no one smoking gun causing CCD, scientists now widely agree that it is a result of a combination of factors, made manifest by industrial beekeeping, a practice which involves trucking thousands of hives great distances to pollinate crops, exposing bees to countless pesticides, interfering with the species natural defenses by treating them with miticides and antibiotics, and feeding them high fructose corn syrup. This deadly cocktail has made bees incredibly vulnerable and on the brink of collapse. That is, only if we fail to act, if we fail to recognize this disaster in the making and do not take strong action to counter the slow march to extinction.

Atlanta, New York, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Spokane, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver and most recently Santa Monica have all taken decisive action and legalized urban beekeeping.

Los Angeles currently outlaws beekeeping in residential areas, and the city's policy is to exterminate all feral honey bees. With worldwide bee populations threatened with Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and urban beekeeping more popular than ever, this policy needs to change. We believe it to be a necessary and just measure requiring immediate action.

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Four Community Councils within Los Angeles (Mar Vista, Del Rey, Greater Griffith Park, and South Robertson) have already voted in favor of supporting an urban beekeeping program in residentially zoned districts. The votes came after months of campaigning by Los Angeles residents and more than 2,000 people signed petitions on Change.org. The Community Council's are calling for a Motion from Los Angeles Councilmember Bill Rosendahl to direct the City Planning Department to initiate an ordinance that would allow Los Angeles residents to raise their own honeybees, a practice that helps boost struggling honeybee populations and ensures local food security.

Please sign our petition to let the Los Angeles City Council know that this is an important issue that they should move on as soon as possible!

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Legalize Urban Beekeeping in Los Angeles!!

Greetings,

I am writing you to ask that you make the legalization of beekeeping and the establishment of a bee rescue policy one of your top priorities. Bees are an essential part of our food system. According to the USDA bees are responsible for the production of roughly a third of our diet. In addition they are a boon to local gardeners, and urban farmers.

Unfortunately, as you may be aware, honeybees worldwide are in crisis, falling prey to the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder at an alarming rate, making beekeeping a serious food security issue. While the exact causes of this disorder are unknown, it is clear that the problem is exacerbated by the way commercial growers raise and manage bees. It is the urban beekeepers raising feral bees that have found a way to keep hives healthy and thriving. That is why it is essential that we protect this genetically strong bee population, allow local beekeepers to help harness them, and establish a bee rescue to move feral bees to the agricultural areas where they are most needed. It is not often that so much good can be done with so little work.

Urban beekeeping has been gaining widespread attention since the President and First Lady of the United States themselves began keeping two hives on the White House lawn, and even Santa Monica recently dropped their beekeeping ban. With that in mind, I urge you to:

1. Support Mar Vista, Del Rey, Greater Griffith Park, and South Robertson in their bid for Beekeeping pilot project in CD-11 and CD-4.

2. Support efforts to develop a new ordinance, which will legalize beekeeping within R1 districts in Los Angeles, Bee Rescue, and the creation of a legal bee yard within the city of Los Angeles that will operate as a secure, temporary holding area for feral honeybee colonies that are awaiting relocation to agricultural zones outside city limits.

3. Change Los Angeles’ current response to feral honeybee swarms (which is extermination), and to allow live bee removal on city and public property within Los Angeles.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this important issue.

LINKS:
- Santa Monica's newly amended ordinance legalizing beekeeping: http://tinyurl.com/7ymqaz4
- Mar Vista Feasibility Study on Urban Beekeeping: http://tinyurl.com/7ewq9am
- Additional resources available online via HoneyLove at: http://honeylove.org/resources/

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