Throwing the baby out with the bath water
At the streetscape meeting on Monday, Liliana Dones, co-chair of Coconut Grove's TreeWatch, asked if Fuller Street could be closed permanently in an effort to save all the trees that were set to be replaced. She was told that the trees are infected and/or diseased and they need to be replaced and also that Fuller is a needed thoroughfare, to which many of us chuckled. It's hard to see Fuller Street as a thoroughfare. Until the 1960s, it was a little walk-thru alley with curved doorway-type entries on either end with a fountain right in the middle.
Also, many thought this odd since there were plans to close down Virginia Street not too long ago and that is a major thoroughfare into the Grove.
Liliana also mentioned to me that there is that one famous pear tree at ground zero in New York that survived the 9/11 terrorist attack. It is still there and thriving right at the memorial site. So trees do survive in spite of what experts decide their fate should be. Which reminds me, they took out the tree trunks from the tree massacre site on 27th and S. Bayshore, where the trees were actually starting to come back to life. But Liliana mentioned at last night's Village Council meeting that the Parks Department feels that they can be planted elsewhere and thrive. So hopefully they will end up in the Grove somewhere.
Another issue, which I did not understand at the time, was brought up by my friend Ali Moztarzadeh at Monday's meeting. The guys running the meeting made Ali look foolish when he tried to explain that one of the trees on Commodore Plaza was in the plans to be moved for no reason other than to make way for a removed fire hydrant. The big beautiful tree in question is to the left in this photo, you can see the fire hydrant, too. That's the beauty shop, a new wine/tapas bar that's opening and Bombay Darbar, the three businesses at the end of Commdore Plaza and you can see part of the Cruz party place (the former Ivy).
They made it look as if Ali was trying to not have the street blocked in front of a few of his properties, by having the fire hydrant remain, but his issue was with the moving of a large, mature oak tree for no real reason.
The tree was hit by lightning and the BID has decided that it must go, but only one branch was affected. Ali sought the consultation of a licensed, reputable and experienced garden and tree service company about the particular tree and the company informed him that "their tree surgeon is able to safely remove the one single branch which had been hit by lightning last year and save the tree from further damage due to lack of care and maintenance. In addition they have injections and medication pellets available which can be applied to treat any residue beetle borrowing from the affected branch."
Lisa Hammer, the City's arborist, has agreed that the tree is not diseased. If the trees on Commodore as well as this one single tree had been maintaned all these years, the sidewalks and the rest of the area would not be such a mess.
Ali says in a letter to the BID, "The tree has a full canopy, it is green, it is resilient and there is no way anyone can say it is going to die any time soon. In my opinion it is wrong to remove a large and healthy tree simply to clear the path for a fire hydrant move by several yards. Further even if one aspect of your project is wrong and there is unwillingness to correct it with sincerity and foresight, then the whole project is for sure questionable."
He went on to say, "Finally, removal of eleven trees from Commodore Plaza is wrong with the false excuse that they are diseased and fear mongering that they are going to fall on people and property when you know maintenance has not been done. There is no ADA problems on the existing, already wide sidewalks of Commodore Plaza, the sidewalks and trees were neglected and now the sidewalks need a major overhaul at a huge expense. It is almost like burning your automobile engine due to not ever changing the engine oil and now you also feel changing the car radio will boost your engine."
Also, many thought this odd since there were plans to close down Virginia Street not too long ago and that is a major thoroughfare into the Grove.
Liliana also mentioned to me that there is that one famous pear tree at ground zero in New York that survived the 9/11 terrorist attack. It is still there and thriving right at the memorial site. So trees do survive in spite of what experts decide their fate should be. Which reminds me, they took out the tree trunks from the tree massacre site on 27th and S. Bayshore, where the trees were actually starting to come back to life. But Liliana mentioned at last night's Village Council meeting that the Parks Department feels that they can be planted elsewhere and thrive. So hopefully they will end up in the Grove somewhere.
Another issue, which I did not understand at the time, was brought up by my friend Ali Moztarzadeh at Monday's meeting. The guys running the meeting made Ali look foolish when he tried to explain that one of the trees on Commodore Plaza was in the plans to be moved for no reason other than to make way for a removed fire hydrant. The big beautiful tree in question is to the left in this photo, you can see the fire hydrant, too. That's the beauty shop, a new wine/tapas bar that's opening and Bombay Darbar, the three businesses at the end of Commdore Plaza and you can see part of the Cruz party place (the former Ivy).
They made it look as if Ali was trying to not have the street blocked in front of a few of his properties, by having the fire hydrant remain, but his issue was with the moving of a large, mature oak tree for no real reason.
The tree was hit by lightning and the BID has decided that it must go, but only one branch was affected. Ali sought the consultation of a licensed, reputable and experienced garden and tree service company about the particular tree and the company informed him that "their tree surgeon is able to safely remove the one single branch which had been hit by lightning last year and save the tree from further damage due to lack of care and maintenance. In addition they have injections and medication pellets available which can be applied to treat any residue beetle borrowing from the affected branch."
Lisa Hammer, the City's arborist, has agreed that the tree is not diseased. If the trees on Commodore as well as this one single tree had been maintaned all these years, the sidewalks and the rest of the area would not be such a mess.
Ali says in a letter to the BID, "The tree has a full canopy, it is green, it is resilient and there is no way anyone can say it is going to die any time soon. In my opinion it is wrong to remove a large and healthy tree simply to clear the path for a fire hydrant move by several yards. Further even if one aspect of your project is wrong and there is unwillingness to correct it with sincerity and foresight, then the whole project is for sure questionable."
He went on to say, "Finally, removal of eleven trees from Commodore Plaza is wrong with the false excuse that they are diseased and fear mongering that they are going to fall on people and property when you know maintenance has not been done. There is no ADA problems on the existing, already wide sidewalks of Commodore Plaza, the sidewalks and trees were neglected and now the sidewalks need a major overhaul at a huge expense. It is almost like burning your automobile engine due to not ever changing the engine oil and now you also feel changing the car radio will boost your engine."
posted by Tom Falco at 8:00 AM
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