> And I still ask - where are all the crops in a city?  

Two words - "Rooftop Farms".  There are several large ones in each of
Boston, NYC, Chicago, Detroit, DC, and so on.
The entire Boston-Atlanta Metroplex is thick with them, as localvores have
proven willing to pay extra for hyper-local food, and hydroponic greenhouses
and shallow-root drip-irrigated farms sprang up to supply farmers markets,
restaurants, and green grocers.  No major city will somehow become
self-sufficient for any food, but it does not hurt to have people who are
aware of the seasons, more in touch with nature, and aware of the
environmental quality.

Another two words - "Community Gardens".  The economy made a giant flushing
sound a while ago, and it really has never recovered to the state where it
was.  Lots and lots of community gardens and backyard gardens re-tooled from
ornamentals to veggies.

Another two words - "Green Roofs".  The rainwater that does not go into the
storm sewers alone is worth a big fat tax-credit from the city to the owner
of the roof.  There is no flat roof of any size that is not slated to be
replaced with a "green roof" of some sort, as they have also a longer
service life, and a lower cost of maintenance, and make sense even if there
were no tax credits.  Bees are needed to pollinate and propagate the
water-retaining plants, such as sedum, that these roofs use.  Ripping up the
streets to install larger storm sewers would cost billions.  Bees are
everyone's only hope of avoiding an century of ripped up streets.  The good
news is that we can deploy honey bees, bumble bees, solitary bees, all can
be of use, depending on the size of the roof, and the site conditions.

> Do we really need bees there, other than to keep beekeepers amused?  

If not for the lack of adequate pollination, and the need for it in
community gardens, beekeepers would not have had the wide base of public
support that the community gardeners offered.  I did what I could to build a
constituency in NYC by teaching free beekeeping classes, organizing group
wholesale equipment buys and package/queen purchases, and holding workshops
for hands-on work.  But even at over 100 students a year, this was an
insignificant following as compared to the massive number of very
well-connected, politically astute, and well-organized community gardeners.
A number of people have attempted to take credit for the legalization of
beekeeping in NYC, but I point to the community gardeners as the actual
voters who were kind enough to publicly support our effort.

> If we are going to spend money 'saving the bees', is it not better spent
elsewhere?

Money is spent by individuals to "save the bees" in cities, no public funds
are spent.  These urban beehives are the hood ornament on the "save the
bees" movement, and the "save the bees" movement itself is the current hood
ornament on the environmental movement as a whole.  The press are lazy, so
urban hives make it easier for them to photograph, film, and pontificate
with photogenic beehives in the background.  These urban hives are thereby
crucial to getting out the message that "only funding for science will save
the bees".

I don't know any urban beekeeper who has any illusions about "saving the
bees" on more than a symbolic basis.  In fact, my view is that urban bees
save the urban beekeeper, as a beehive is, as I have said from the start, "A
small box of calm in a world gone mad."    Not everyone gets this at first,
but after a while, even the most high-strung novice realizes that the bees
don't mind being inspected, and are not stinging their gloves. Then the
gloves come off, the veils are unzipped and folded back, and the beekeeper
forgets to be afraid, and starts to be humbled in amazement.

Jets vs Patriots tomorrow.  
Everyone sing along to the Tom Jones tune "She's a Lady", but the chorus is
"Beat Tom Brady..."
A Jets win would be a nice Christmas miracle.

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