Fwd: Pittsburgh Banning Beekeeping?!

Just got the email below from the Burgh Bees list, where I lurk and learn cool things about urban beekeeping in Pittsburgh. If you're local and a fan of beekeeping in Pittsburgh, please write to Jason Kambitsis or come to the hearing as described below. If for some reason you are not a fan of urban beekeeping but could be swayed by a small handful of facts, consider the following:

• There is a major honeybee crisis worldwide. A plethora of confusing diseases have wiped out a devastating fraction of all wild honeybees. Beekeepers are the honeybee's best hope for survival.
• If you have or want a vegetable garden in Pittsburgh, you want urban beekeepers. Bees only travel a limited distance from their hive: no local pollinators means no fruit (botanically speaking! so that means cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and the like, too)
• People have been keeping bees in Pittsburgh for years, mostly under the City's nose and with the cooperation of their neighbors -- even in dense areas like the North Side. This is why there are bees in Pittsburgh. There are well-known and -communicated techniques for handling urban hives in a way that's safe for both bees and humans.
• Local bees mean local honey. Local honey has a therapeutic effect on local pollen allergies. I should know; my allergies developed when I was a kid in Mt Lebanon, and there is nowhere I've lived where my allergies are worse than they are in Pittsburgh. Honey helps. Strangest thing.
  

The email:

Burgh Beesers, the City of Pittsburgh needs to hear from YOU!

This is a Call to Action to all beekeepers and bee-lovers. The City of Pittsburgh has drafted an Urban Agriculture Ordinance that greatly restricts beekeeping in the Burgh. The proposed restrictions would in effect ban beekeeping in many of our city's dense neighborhoods, where our members have been safely keeping bees for years.

We have requested that the city amend their proposed ordinance to better accommodate our urban beekeepers and to encourage safe and responsible beekeeping. Attached are our proposed revisions.

The ordinance will be brought to the Planning Commission on February 16th and we need all of you there to show the Commission, which doesn't believe that beekeeping is "a big thing" in and around the Burgh, how many beekeepers and beekeeper supporters there are in our parts. Please either come to the Planning Commission meeting on the 16th (details below) or send an email of support to Jason Kambitsis at jason.kambitsis@city.pittsburgh.pa.us urging the City to adopt Burgh Bees' recommendations. Please cc Burghbees@gmail.com on your email to the city, so that we can keep a count!

Planning Commission Hearing:
Tuesday, February 16, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at 200 Ross Street, 1st Floor.
Please add your name to this form if you plan to come, so we'll have an idea of how many people will be there. https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFJBMzhkVnA5UVJMY19wWXJzcEJqcVE6MA