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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — There's a push buzzing around in the Boston City Council to put relaxing smoke into beekeeping rules to allow anyone to take up hive care no matter where they live in the city.
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe spoke with the CEO of the Best Bee's Company, the largest beekeeping service in the United States, Noah Wilson-Rich, on what urban beekeeping would look like for Boston, a practice that appears to be more vibrant in concrete jungles than those done in rural areas.
"Anybody who eats food needs bees, and what we're seeing across the United States is one of every two beehives is dying every year. Bees are dying less so in cities, meaning urban beehives tend to be healthier," Wilson-Rich said.
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During a hearing Tuesday afternoon, the City Council is considering making an amendment to the Boston Zoning Code, which currently forbids the storage of honeybees in the vast majority of Boston. Members of the public were invited to give testimony and thoughts on the movement.
"What this aims to do is to do make beekeeping legal by right, so that everybody has access to pollinators, fresh local honey, and can share that and even sell it at farmer's markets," Wilson-Rich said.
If the rule changes pass, beekeeping would be under the jurisdiction of the city's inspectional services.
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports.
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