> There's been a huge change in 
> honey production in my backyard 
> hives here in Seattle's Ballard 
> neighborhood since I began 
> keeping bees in 2014.

Have you weighed hives weekly or so, and kept records?
I ask because one sharp change I know of since 2014 on the mid-Atlantic
Eastern seaboard is that many tree blooms got steadily earlier, with weight
gains prompting me to super my hives far earlier than I did in the 2008-2010
timeframe.  The USDA may have to adjust the growing zones yet again to
accommodate the current reality.  Problem is, while blooms are blooming
earlier, the bees are not able to fly all that much earlier.  We still have
"winter", and the bees can't fly, but the temps are mild enough to ratchet
up the blooms, and rarely freeze off the blooms.

> The local beeks who live closer 
> to large parks and open spaces 
> are faring better.  

Sounds like your open space got bulldozed and built upon.  "Pave paradise,
put up a parking lot." I'd blame bulldozers before I blamed "too many
hives".  No one is bringing truckloads of bees to your area and setting up
holding yards, so single digit increases in beeyards, each with single-digit
numbers of hives does not seem likely to impact your hives that much. 

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