> We went through 15 drafts to come 
> up with something that was relatively 
> simple, and that the Ag Commissioner, 
> hobby, and commercial beekeepers 
> would all strongly support.

There seems to have been a need for better negotiators.  Here in NYC, where
space is at a premium, and distances between "apiaries" can be literally "an
alley away", we have no restrictions at all, other than the requirement to
simply inform the health dept where one's apiary is located, and to provide
a water source.  (They are called the "New York Department of Health and
Mental Hygiene", so it is doubly appropriate that beekeepers be regulated by
them.)

It is essentially on an honor system, as no one will ever find a
well-managed hive or two on a rooftop protected by doormen, elevators that
need codes or keyfobs, and several doors with signs saying that they are
"alarmed" about something or other.  It would only be a swarm clustering at
street level that would reveal the existence of a nearby hive - yet another
reason to split everything in sight by Easter.

And the forage seems nearly infinite, once one counts up all the street
trees that produce nectar (yet another product of being a good negotiator,
as we worked hard to advocate for "bee-friendly" trees to be planted), and
considers the massive parks in every borough.  

Also, the small fraction of beekeepers who persisted once the "fad"
evaporated is very small - only a few hundred people at most out of 11
million residents.  The hipsters all moved on to easier, less demanding
hobbies/fads, like craft beer, crossfit, and macramé.

Importantly, we have no commercial beekeepers at all.  There are one or two
who lack skills in math and finance, and persist in thinking that they can
make a living selling honey at the local Farmer's Markets.  In practice,
they put their own labels on honey bought in bulk from elsewhere, and hawk
their misrepresented/mislabeled honey literally on street corners, in all
weather.   Sounds pathetic, and is, as it isn't much of a living at all.
So, they end up living well outside the City, and commuting in to peddle
their honey and to tend a few City hives, just for show.  The press is no
longer interested in bees, so we are happily as obscure and harmless as a
beekeeping should be, and these charlatans no longer embarrass us all with
their attempts at self-promotion. 

As for the Ag Commissioner, those of us in the "donor class" made sure that
the governor at the time defunded the power-hungry attempt by New York Ag &
Markets to expand "apiary inspection" without providing any actual services
of value to beekeepers to go along with all the Mussolini-style
authoritarianism.   It is sad, but Peter Borst, Aaron Morris, and Kim
Flottum can all tell tales of woe and intrigue that illustrate that NY state
beekeepers (outside the City) are a fractious bunch, who will never trust a
state Ag employee, and for good reason.

So, someone certainly might put 100 hives on adjacent roofs in a single city
block, but no one with the skills to keep their bees alive is dumb enough to
try, and there are generalized "nuisance" laws already on the books to
handle that scenario.

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