Despite the recent victory of legalizing beekeeping in New York City, urban beekeepers across the country, including in the city of Los Angeles, still face archaic city laws and ordinances that make keeping bees illegal.

City beekeeping is not only a great way to produce healthy, delicious honey full of locally nuanced flavor, but busy bees help maintain a thriving local ecosystem and boost the crop output of urban gardeners. As Colony Collapse Disorder continues to threaten worldwide bee populations–and with it food security–keeping bees and ensuring that they thrive should be a priority of every city and town, not just the work of renegades.

By legalizing and encouraging beekeeping, city councils could save money on extermination and hive removal costs. In turn, cities would be assisting the development of locally based green jobs while boosting food security.

Increasingly, cities throughout the country have seen the honey-hued light and repealed or amended laws to legalize beekeeping—including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Portland, San Francisco, Cleveland, Detroit, Tulsa and Seattle. There's no reason why a forward-thinking city like Los Angeles, where pollen-laden fruit trees grace nearly every street corner, should not be a place where beekeepers can come out of the shadows.

Tell Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council to legalize beekeeping in the city.