[Grovenet] Trees being cut down at city parking lot?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Trees are trees: powerful creatures with needs of their own. In my hometown
they planted many thousands of pepper trees along the streets in the 1920's
and 30's. They were absolutely beautiful, gnarly beings with their profusion
of thin leaves that were highly resistant to drought there on the edge of
the desert, and the red pepper berries were beautiful when they exploded
en-masse.

The huge branches formed thick canopies over the sidewalks and streets. As a
10 year old walking my dog at night (yes, 10 year olds actually ventured out
at night without a thought of abduction or injury back in the 40's and 50's)
I used to shudder over one stretch where a concrete sidewalk had never been
laid and the dirt path was a tangle of roots along the surface. The branches
blocked out almost all moon light and street light over the sidewalk and
reached down to a very tall, dense hedge on the opposite side of the walk.
It was a block long and I felt like I was trapped in a real-life version of
Disney's "Fantasia" every time I stumbled along there at night. The trees
really did have faces that watched me pass with a malevolent sneer <G>.

The roots tore up sidewalks, streets all over town; even foundations of some
homes. The made the sidewalks a real bane for a kid on the iron-wheeled
roller skates of the day - the ones that used the little clamps to grip the
front of one's shoe; clamps that fell off on the first serious bump creating
a spill with skinned knees and elbows. No, kids of those days didn't even
wear crash helmets, much less knee and elbow pads. 

The peppercorns were just what you imagine - little round "ball bearings"
covering the streets in thick mats and just about like ball bearings to
drive on. Hapless drivers trying a quick turn might do an entire 360 spin on
a section of road without touching the brakes. Stopping quickly? Not a
chance!

And any heavy wind storm was sure to bring down a few branches, many
weighing a few hundred pounds, to land on cars passing by or parked too
close. We had several such wind storms each year.  

So what's the perfect urban tree? 

Why everyone knows the answer to that. It's a plastic fir tree like the ones
many people use at Christmas...

Whatever the city does, it'll be better than the squares of concrete that
replaced the nice trees at 19th and Main. That is, if they plant a tree...

Ron D'Eau Claire 



-----Original Message-----
From: grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com [mailto:grovenet-bounces at rdrop.com] On
Behalf Of Dale Wiley
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 4:19 PM
To: 'Forest Grove local interests list'
Subject: RE: [Grovenet] Trees being cut down at city parking lot?


-----Original Message-----
From: Dale Wiley [mailto:dale.wiley at netzero.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 4:15 PM
To: 'Paul Downey'
Cc: 'Steve Huffman'; 'Kerstin Cathcart'
Subject: RE: [Grovenet] Trees being cut down at city parking lot?


Thanks for your reply Paul. I fully understand the reasons and rationale for
it, and this is by no means an isolated thing. Linden planes were specifed
in a lot of situations by architects with out a lot of thought to the down
stream problems that they will cause. The City of Beaverton was faced with a
whole sub division of these street trees some years ago.

I will pass your reply on to those citizens.