> If I am a patsy, why are you even talking to me?

So that you can be forewarned, and muster what resources you have to avoid
becoming "a patsy" in practice.  Also, so that others can be forewarned, and
assist you.  

> Why do you seem to only care enough about 
> what ESHPA is and what ESHPA does to throw 
> stones at it from NYC, but not enough to be 
> part of ESHPA as a voting/working member?

I merely call 'em as I see 'em.  Now that I've "called" this one, I think
everyone can agree that the coincidences are far too stunningly convenient
to be mere coincidence. I offer what may be "insight", you decide. It is not
stone-throwing, it is a favor.  But doing that favor does not obligate me to
become embroiled in a fight that started long before I started keeping bees.
See the "President's Message" in the Summer 2012 edition of the ESHPA
newsletter. It was quoted verbatim from a complaint by Richard Taylor made
in the same newsletter 35 years ago!  "Plus ca change..."

And please remember that when ESHPA failed to negotiate an acceptable Apiary
Inspection infrastructure, we did indeed "get involved". That's why there
are zero dollars budgeted for inspectors.  We had worked hard to have as
close to "deregulated" beekeeping as possible in the City, and we weren't
about to let anyone foul that up.  (Yes, someone must to do the Section 18
paperwork, so NY continues to fund a State Apiarist, but there are questions
if those functions would be accomplished better/faster/cheaper by the
Department of Environmental Conservation rather than the Ag Dept. I can't
disagree with that analysis, as so much of what beekeepers really need comes
down to taking samples, and running them through one lab test or another.)

To be blunt, the NYC beekeeping community shares more concerns in common
with beekeepers in Philly, and DC, and even Calgary Alberta than we share
with beekeepers in rural upstate NY. City beekeeping is a completely
different animal, as I learned firsthand.  Also, we have our own unique
problems - our membership outnumbers ESHPA's by a factor of at least 10, and
we are a very novice-heavy community.  I will soon start teaching yet
another wintertime cycle of the 12 to 14 2.5-hour classes that make up the
Absolutely Free Beekeeping Course, and we continue to have to turn people
away due to a lack of a venue of sufficient size, as we have every year
since 2008.  So, I'm a bit busy myself.

> If [Jim] isn't a member of ESHPA he must have a good inside source

>> Or maybe Jim was at the Fall Meeting incognito?

Apparently, neither Mike nor Mike knows what I look like, even at close
range.  :)

> they [the NY Apiary Industry Advisory Committee] 
> did say there is an opening for a non-commercial 
> beek from around NYC if you are interested. I would 
> recommend anyone that is in N.Y. to apply if they 
> want to find out what's going on.

To date, I have taken great care to avoid all elected and appointed offices
in all beekeeping contexts.
I could suggest several people whose views would be of value, but I doubt
anyone is eager to "apply".

More to the point, it is only the Mafia that requires one to join in order
to find out "what is going on." If any random citizen can't easily "find out
what is going on" at the AIAC, then the members of the AIAC are in violation
of multiple sections of NY law, and are best dealt with by Andrew Cuomo's
commission on corruption.  Not kidding even a little tiny bit about this.

This is "just beekeeping", but beekeeping is, in essence, the art of making
ethical decisions when no one is looking, on matters about which no one will
ever know.
So, beekeeping is really nothing but an exercise in the exercise of ethics.


 

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