Urban Clear-Cutting
PLAINFIELD - PUBLIC HEARING (6/27/05)
If you chose "C" that was the most recent explanation offered Monday by project engineer George James. Simply put, if the improvements didn’t meet the state access code, funding would not be provided. City engineer Carl Turner did not comment.
“I know it was a nice, shady area,” James said, offering a revised plan that would place some larger new trees on the site to hasten growth of a canopy.
Citizen rumbling began when the first trees were cut down as part of the launch of the long-awaited downtown streetscape improvements. About 80 trees on Front Street and side streets between Madison Avenue and Watchung Avenue fell under the axe. The outcry hit a crescendo last week after a dozen mature trees were cut down on Financial Plaza at Park and Front and gained more decibels when residents and merchants saw a big yellow machine clawing the shade-covered park apart.
Citizens attending the hearing were especially horrified to see a leafy glade furnished with benches and chess tables laid bare and then demolished to make way for new sidewalks, sapling trees and replacement brick pavers.
Third Ward resident Josef Gutenkauf called the action “a heinous crime,” and Dottie Gutenkauf read a poem about the chess park that she wrote in the form of an obituary.
A gaping hole in the plaza will most likely greet visitors who come to the July 4th parade, as the reconstruction will not be completed until mid-July.
The project originated in the Economic Development office before the city hired a tree expert and started a committee to address how trees should be preserved. The Ten Cities Tree Committee was formed last fall and is working on getting a tree commission and an ordinance to protect city trees.
Because so many people were upset over the tree removal and because there was considerable finger-pointing at the hearing, Councilman Ray Blanco asked for a separate council meeting just on the subject of trees.
Why were all the trees cut down on Financial Plaza?
A. Because they were old.
B. Because they would not have survived the streetscape reconstruction.
C. Because the plaza had to be re-graded for handicapped access and the trees had to go.Stumped?
If you chose "C" that was the most recent explanation offered Monday by project engineer George James. Simply put, if the improvements didn’t meet the state access code, funding would not be provided. City engineer Carl Turner did not comment.
“I know it was a nice, shady area,” James said, offering a revised plan that would place some larger new trees on the site to hasten growth of a canopy.
Citizen rumbling began when the first trees were cut down as part of the launch of the long-awaited downtown streetscape improvements. About 80 trees on Front Street and side streets between Madison Avenue and Watchung Avenue fell under the axe. The outcry hit a crescendo last week after a dozen mature trees were cut down on Financial Plaza at Park and Front and gained more decibels when residents and merchants saw a big yellow machine clawing the shade-covered park apart.
Citizens attending the hearing were especially horrified to see a leafy glade furnished with benches and chess tables laid bare and then demolished to make way for new sidewalks, sapling trees and replacement brick pavers.
Third Ward resident Josef Gutenkauf called the action “a heinous crime,” and Dottie Gutenkauf read a poem about the chess park that she wrote in the form of an obituary.
A gaping hole in the plaza will most likely greet visitors who come to the July 4th parade, as the reconstruction will not be completed until mid-July.
The project originated in the Economic Development office before the city hired a tree expert and started a committee to address how trees should be preserved. The Ten Cities Tree Committee was formed last fall and is working on getting a tree commission and an ordinance to protect city trees.
Because so many people were upset over the tree removal and because there was considerable finger-pointing at the hearing, Councilman Ray Blanco asked for a separate council meeting just on the subject of trees.
--Bernice Paglia
KEYWORDS: redevelopment, public hearing, trees
posted by Bernice at 7:16 PM
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