Hi,
I contacted Andy Hillman, the City Forester, because (like Josh) I know
that he is very thoughtful and experienced when it comes to trees. Here's
his response. I sit on the City's Board of Public Works, and so voted to
go for this plan (Council makes the decisions about money, though, so it's
their final say). I'll be missing the shade as well, but I'll defer to
Andy's judgment. Thanks to him, our urban forest gets better every day.
Jennifer Dotson
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Re: Aurora Street trees
From: "Michelle Berry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, July 10, 2007 9:28 am
To: "Andy Hillman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Carolyn Peterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Linda Byard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Daniel Cogan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"David Gelinas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Gayraud Townsend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"J.R. Clairborne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Joel Zumoff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Maria Coles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Robin Korherr" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Shane Seger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Tom West" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy,
This is a very thoughtful letter. You are truly respected throughout
the City and beyond. I feel fortunate (as I know many, many of us do)
to have you at the City and to have you take such time and
consideration and respect for our constituents.
Best,
Michelle Berry
>>> Andy Hillman 7/10/2007 8:13:56 am >>>
To: Friends of the Urban Forest and Fans of Downtown Trees,
I appreciate the concern I am hearing from you. Please let me briefly
explain why we decided to remove all the trees and start over with a whole
new system.
I carefully examined each tree in the project area and determined that
many would be removed in the near future for other reasons even if the
project did not happen. Three are Bradford pears with their well known
problems. Most of our Bradfords are gone due to structural defects. They
sometimes just fall apart on hot, calm days.
Then there are some Zelkovas that have serious defects right at grade
because I did not get the tree grates off in time. The trees started to
grow over the grates, causing girdling right at the ground level. As
pathogens and agents of decay cause rot, these trees become more risky.
We do know now how to grow large, healthy trees in the built environment
(downtown). The biggest challenge to urban trees is often lack of rooting
volume; not enough soil to support a large, mature tree. This project will
supply sufficient structural soil to allow for large, healthy, mature
trees.
Much more extensive urban tree removal projects have taken place in Ithaca
recently. I invite you to take a look at West Court Street where I removed
all the trees on several blocks for the coal tar mitigation project. We
went back in with a diverse pallette of large caliper trees, watered and
mulched them to establish faster growth, and concentrated planting around
the project to minimize the impact.
Downtown trees do the most work for us, providing ecosytem services that
help make our city liveable. This project will allow us to make a
significant improvement to our downtown urban forest. We are finally
planning for and engineering for the trees as an integral part of the
urban infrastructure. The structural soil will stay in place and function
even after the new trees we plant are removed and replaced in the
hopefully, distant future.
New trees will be going in soon on Seneca Street for the TCAT project.
Again, CU Structural Soil was specified and used in that project. What we
are doing is creating the rooting volume needed to get big trees downtown.
I hope this helps to explain what was a very considered decision. The
Shade Tree Advisory Committee, Board of Public Works, and Common Council
all made good recommendations and decisions for the future of our downtown
trees. I think it is the best way to go.
Respectfully,
Andy Hillman, City Forester
President - Society of Municipal Arborists
Secretary - New York State Urban & Community Forestry Council
ISA Certified Municipal Specialist
>>> Carolyn Peterson 7/9/2007 4:36 PM >>>
Dear Linda,
>From one walker to another, I believe in the value of our street trees
too. (especially for some relief on these very hot days) I have copied our
city forester and engineer to explain more fully the limits of this
project. My understanding is that the trees are not thriving and that much
better structural soil will be replaced to aid the trees. I am not sure
what size trees will be replaced. I hope that Tom West and Andy Hillman
can fill in the gaps in my explanation.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Peterson
___________________________
Carolyn K. Peterson
Mayor - City of Ithaca
City Hall, 108 E. Green St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-274-6501 (phone)
607-274-6526 (fax)
____________________________
>>> "Linda Byard" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 7/9/2007 12:25 PM >>>
Dear Mayor Peterson,
I am just back from the Aurora Street area near the Commons and was shocked
to find that every single tree on both sides of the street have signs saying
that they are scheduled to be removed. Like many other residents of Ithaca,
I looked with favor upon the project that would increase the sidewalk for
outdoor seating at the restaurants on this street. I believe this enhances
the downtown atmosphere with more "al fresco" dining available to us all.
However, take away the shade and the cool of these mature trees, and we lose
the whole point of this project. Who wants to bake in the hot sun and eat
outside? Who will be tempted to stroll through Aurora St. if there is no
shade?
There are lovely outdoor and treed eating areas throughout the US and
Europe, and I believe that the planners can find a way to keep the trees if
they are told to try. Obviously it is much easier to do a clean sweep and
then add some plantings later. But to my knowledge we don't know how to add
mature trees to a landscape. These are the most desirable for the shade and
cool that they offer now, not in twenty years.
We need and want trees in downtown Ithaca, and we have recently lost an
entire block of them on Seneca St. for the bus shelter. If we want people
to come downtown, we need to keep them comfortable in this hot weather. I
am also noting that the trees in front of Contemporary Trends are also
slated for removal even though this business is unlikely to want outdoor
sitting.
Please consider this matter and do what you can to fix this project so that
it will meet the needs and interests of our residents, tourists, and the
restaurant community.
Sincerely,
Linda Byard
111 Stewart Ave. 2-SE
Ithaca
> Yes, but we'll be a long time waiting for any real shade from them. I
> think
> we undervalue mature trees -- and the ones taken out were barely old
> enough
> to be considered mature. They were finally getting big enough to make a
> difference -- and now we're starting all over again. I think Tony has a
> very valid point about the trees on Aurora Street. Having more place for
> dining with wider sidewalks will be nice, but who will want to sit out
> there in the sun on a hot day?
>
> Joel Gagnon
>
> At 06:18 PM 7/9/07 -0400, you wrote:
>>The new bus stop project includes new trees and plantings.
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Anthony Ingraham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>To: "Sustainable Tompkins" <[email protected]>
>>Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 2:22 PM
>>Subject: [SustainableTompkins] FW: Downtown Ithaca
>>
>>
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: Linda Byard
>> > Sent: 7/9/2007 1:12:12 PM
>> > Subject: Downtown Ithaca
>> > Hi,
>> > I am just back from downtown Ithaca having walked through the block of
>> > Aurora Street closest to the Commons where several restaurants are
>> > located. There are signs on every single tree on both sides of the
>> street
>> > saying that they are scheduled to be removed. (No date appeared.) I
>> > think the signs are pretty new.
>> >
>> > I think many of us thought it was a pretty good idea when the city
>> > announced plans to widen the sidewalk on that block to allow more
>> outdoor
>> > dining. However, if the trees are gone, the outdoor dining idea
>> becomes
>> > much less attractive. Plus trees provide shade, cooling, and all the
>> > rest. I don't think I need to spell out all the good things that go
>> with
>> > trees. The plan might be to remove the trees and then plant new ones
>> > which are better situated, but who wants to wait all those years for
>> new
>> > trees to mature, especially when it might be totally unnecessary.
>> >
>> > I have just sent an e-mail to Mayor Peterson and to all members of
>> Common
>> > Council urging them to ask the planners to try to modify the plans to
>> keep
>> > the mature trees already on this block. I urge you also to write or
>> call
>> > these people and/or any others you think might be influential in
>> modifying
>> > this project to accommodate the trees. Please also tell your friends
>> who
>> > might care about this.
>> >
>> > A pleasant summer to all,
>> > Linda Byard
>> >
>> > PS I don't think many people realize that we also just lost an entire
>> > block of trees on Seneca Street between Tioga and Aurora to the bus
>> > shelter even though the bus shelter doesn't seem to be taking up an
>> entire
>> > block.
>> >
>>
>>
>>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
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>>
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