The Bees won in Denver!

Nov 27, 2008 by The Tasty Buzz

Want to know what I'm thankful for? I'm grateful for the Denver City Council passing legislation that allows Denver residents to keep bees in their backyards. This was the result of a recent snafu with a local resident who had a couple hives in her yard and was slapped with a $950 fine if she didn't remove her hives. (See previous post about it here.) Although the proposal passed 10 to 2 in the council, there were still two councilwomen who opposed it, Marcia Johnson and Jeanne Faatz. The women expressed concern that beekeepers don't have to notify or get permission from their neighbors, and were concerned about people with fatal bee allergies. This is an understandable concern, but my hope is that most beekeepers will give a heads-up to neighbors, and encourage them to come check out their hives. This is also a great way to get neighbors excited about bees, and perhaps even provide an opportunity for education and inspiration. If beekeepers do find a neighbor with a fatal bee allergy, then I think they should consider moving the hive somewhere else. The city will now allow up to two hives per city lot, and the ordinance also removed honeybees from the definition of wild or dangerous animal in the city's municipal code. (Wild or dangerous animals? Come on! If we're going to talk wild and dangerous, I'd like to ban my neighbor's dog who frequently attacks another neighbor's chihuahua, and any other small dogs she sees on her daily walks. You should see this beast of a Great Dane. She's as big as my bike and could probably swallow me whole.) Check out the full Rocky Mountain News article here. (Warning: The article appears next to a kind of creepy picture of a girl that died in jail from bleeding to death...sad!) Finally, I dare you to count how many cheesy bee metaphors the writer used during the article. It starts with: "Bee enthusiasts were buzzing with joy Monday after the City Council approved a proposal that allows Denver residents to keep honeybees in their backyards" and goes from there. I counted four.