These are the slides to the presentation I made to the City of Long Beach's Environmental Committee on October 18, 2011. This is the first time the city has met to discuss our recommendations made and approved December 1, 2010!

1. LONG BEACH GROWS
Growing a more sustainable future
grow-buy-eat-share-learn-LOCAL!
www.longbeachgrows.org
LONG BEACH GROWS has 501(c)(3) non-profit status
(Tax ID # 20-4583660) thanks to our partnership with
Catalyst Community, our fiscal sponsor; your donations to
LONG BEACH GROWS are tax deductible. All donations
are greatly appreciated.

2. Long Beach Grows™ Why Grow Long Beach? Help Long Beach Grow
YardShare Gardens & Farms Urban Agriculture Goats Chickens
Food & Nutrition grow–buy–eat–share–learn–LOCAL
Green Happenings in Long Beach Thanks!
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION
Outdated laws are meant to be changed.
Click map to see our
supporters zoom
My 8 -year old daughter says “Our goats are calm. They don’t do anything
bad. They don’t make a lot of noise. Our chickens don’t either. Our chickens
make better eggs than store-bought eggs and they have a nice color too.”
We are your neighbors.
We believe in everybody’s right to make their own “healthy food choices
that reduce environmental causes of diet and related illnesses”, including
raising one’s own poultry and miniature dairy animals.
Please sign to help us change the Long Beach Municipal code to allow
backyard urban farming that includes goats and egg-laying poultry.
San Francisco is doing it! Let’s make Long Beach the progressive, inclusive,
diverse city that it claims to be.
We appreciate your friendship and support.
The Marykwas Family in the Rose Park Historic District, Long Beach, CA

3. Urban Ag Petition

4. Support education, don’t stymie it

5. The Benefits of Urban Ag
far outweigh any
misperceived drawbacks

6. Seattle animals outright, dwarf
GOATS. Seattle allows up to 3 small
goats included, on all lots in all zones. Additional animals
permitted on larger lot sizes of 20,000 sq.ft. or more.
FOWL. Seattle allows up to 8 fowl outright, on all lots in all
zones, in addition to the small animals above. Additional fowl
permitted on lots greater than 10,000 sq. ft., one more for eac
additional 1000 sq.ft. Setback of 10 ft from neighboring house.
PIGS. Seattle allows 1 potbelly PIG (up to 150 lbs) on all lots i
all zones.
BEES. 4 hives allowed on all lots less than 10,000 sq.ft., 25 ft.
from lot line
Seattle (598,541 people in 2008; 7136/sq.mi.) vs Long Beach
(492,682 in 2008; 9854/sq.mi.)

7. Seattle
Phyllis Shulman
Legislative Assistant to
Seattle Council President Richard Conlin
206-684-8805
Comparing goats to dogs and cats said
“These health issues are way less than cat feces or dog issues, but
it is important to keep perspective. That is why I did the briefing
paper. For example, cat feces is a major polluter of our urban
streams. Dogs attack people and often bark all night.”

9. Seattle
Don Baxter, Seattle Animal Shelter, animal
control enforcement person, said complaints
down even though # birds allowed up
“up to this point minimal, minor” “chickens
pretty much stick to their yard” “goats not
too big an issue” “no bee issues either”

10. San Francisco
Eric Zuercher, Animal Care Supervisor:
“not an overwhelming problem at all”

11. City Folk
misunderstand
chickens &
goats
When asked about the future of home farming of small livestock in the
Bay Area, and whether it’s here to stay, Rebecca Katz, Director of
Animal Control in San Francisco, said “I see it growing, certainly with
vegetable gardens. The Mayor has called for this here in San Francisco
& he had the garden at the Civic Center Plaza for quite some time & he
has asked people to do this & it seems it’s a growing trend, it’s not a
fad. AND AS FAR AS ANIMALS GO THEY ARE GOING TO COME WITH
IT. Like I said, people are coming to take chickens out of our care all
the time, they want fresh eggs.”

12. NYC
Jordon Brackett, Deputy Food Policy
Coordinator: “haven’t heard complaints...if
significant, would have heard about it”
“wouldn’t be funding these projects - e.g.
Brook Park Chickens in the Bronx - if there
were problems”

13. Food Security
Affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate*
food for all people at all times
(As defined by the USDA National Institute of
Food and Agriculture)
* As determined by the individual, not by the
government or by others.

14. Food Security Map

15. Community Food Security
The Community Food Security Coalition (www.foodsecurity.org) states
that, “at a basic level, CFS is about making healthy food accessible to
all, including low-income people. It’s about making nutritious &
culturally appropriate food accessible, not just any food. It is about
promoting social justice & more equitable access to resources, &
building & revitalizing local communities & economies. It’s about
supporting local, regional, family-scale, & sustainable farmers &
businesses. It’s about empowering diverse people to work together to
create positive changes in the food system & their communities... and
much more.”

16. DONNA MARYKWAS
donna@longbeachgrows.org
Founder & Ph.D., Biochemistry,
Executive Director, Molecular & Cell Biology,
Long Beach Grows Cornell University
www.longbeachgrows.org
University Professor of
Long Beach Urban Microbiology, 12 years
Agriculture Examiner
http://exm.nr/9GKicS
©2011, D. Marykwas