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Jazzy,
My experience was that it took me nine months and meetings with multiple levels of city government including the city manager to get 30 street trees planted on my block. Everyone I talked with from the actual guys planting the trees to the arborist to the city manager and council was happy and supportive of this project.

So why'd it take nine months? My opinion is that in my particular city (an inner ring suburb of DC) the arborist is overworked, underfunded and not a good organizer - he's got great skills but running a large department is not one of them. Planting a tree involves multiple steps - site selection, tree selection, scheduling the planting and then care of the tree for 2-3 years minimum. Removing a tree is a simple 2-step process - identify the tree to be removed, write a work order.

Also, people call the city fast and often when a tree looks dead (read: dangerous and will fall on a car) but few to no one calls to "complain" about a lack of trees on their street. The squeaky wheels get the attention and so the number of trees goes down...

I've had several newer residents on my block comment that one reason they chose to buy on this block was the number of trees. It reflected, to them, a more beautiful environment and residents who care more.

by EZ on Apr 29, 2011 10:56 am • link • report