Letters
Trees trimmed are very frustrating
Published on Thu, Mar 4, 2010 by Barbara MercerRead More Letters
Editor:
My frustration about Edmonds tree chopping continues. Another event has caused me to write this letter.
Early afternoon on Monday, Feb. 22, I drove to my business; with heart beating shock I noticed that the trees, lining Fifth Ave. S. in front of The Pancake Haus and Petosa's Grocery Store, had been dismembered to trunks with bare, chopped down side limbs!
The trees I am referring to are quite young, cone-shaped (like the majority of contemporary planted trees in Edmonds) but they had matured to some fullness.
They did not touch telephone lines, nor were they part of the sidewalk. Why would anyone in their right mind want to cut
these young trees to crippled atrocities? These trees, before their butchering, had the branches full of small leaves ready to come our for spring and offer birds a nesting environment.
Besides, trees with veils of light green would have enhanced the concrete surroundings in the spring, saturated greens in the summer, and golden-red colors in the fall, if they would have been left alone.
However, someone in the Parks Department of the City had a different viewpoint.
My understanding is that the owner of the Petosa property had been approached by the City, making him responsible for "pruning" the trees, although the City had planted them originally. The City arborist urged this gentleman to go ahead with the "pruning" and assured him that the trees would grow back.
Any knowledgeable arborist would not have allowed trees to be "pruned" early spring, when everything is just starting to sprout and grow, and when birds need their hiding areas for nests.
Trees are supposed to be pruned in the fall, and it has to be done by knowledgeable people.
Nearly everybody is looking for new awakening and beauty in spring. What many neighbors and I are looking at is a distortion of nature.
And it is not just the view, it is the pain that has been done to living trees--and they do have feelings.
I still hope that one day the value of trees will be recognized in this town!
Barbara Mercer
My frustration about Edmonds tree chopping continues. Another event has caused me to write this letter.
Early afternoon on Monday, Feb. 22, I drove to my business; with heart beating shock I noticed that the trees, lining Fifth Ave. S. in front of The Pancake Haus and Petosa's Grocery Store, had been dismembered to trunks with bare, chopped down side limbs!
The trees I am referring to are quite young, cone-shaped (like the majority of contemporary planted trees in Edmonds) but they had matured to some fullness.
They did not touch telephone lines, nor were they part of the sidewalk. Why would anyone in their right mind want to cut
these young trees to crippled atrocities? These trees, before their butchering, had the branches full of small leaves ready to come our for spring and offer birds a nesting environment.
Besides, trees with veils of light green would have enhanced the concrete surroundings in the spring, saturated greens in the summer, and golden-red colors in the fall, if they would have been left alone.
However, someone in the Parks Department of the City had a different viewpoint.
My understanding is that the owner of the Petosa property had been approached by the City, making him responsible for "pruning" the trees, although the City had planted them originally. The City arborist urged this gentleman to go ahead with the "pruning" and assured him that the trees would grow back.
Any knowledgeable arborist would not have allowed trees to be "pruned" early spring, when everything is just starting to sprout and grow, and when birds need their hiding areas for nests.
Trees are supposed to be pruned in the fall, and it has to be done by knowledgeable people.
Nearly everybody is looking for new awakening and beauty in spring. What many neighbors and I are looking at is a distortion of nature.
And it is not just the view, it is the pain that has been done to living trees--and they do have feelings.
I still hope that one day the value of trees will be recognized in this town!
Barbara Mercer