Well it must have been a slow news day at the Gazette for them to be creeping on my Facebook page to come up with a story for their paper. For those of you who read the poorly researched story let me fill in a few blanks. My reasoning for not commenting was that I did not want the Gazette to make the story a political one, a story pitching a former parks director against one now serving. Nowhere in my post from the other day did I mention the parks director but tried to express my disappointment with the Tree Commission. I specifically chose not to participate in the story because I was concerned the Gazette would do just what they did. Where I work has nothing to do with my comments about the park, but because I work in government they felt it was appropriate to mention to sensationalize the story. My comments about what is taking place in the park are not the opinions of anyone I work with or for, purely my own. As a citizen of the community I have a great love of the park and felt compelled to write about what I see as very bad decision making on whoever’s part. In his story, the reporter only spoke to the parks director and no one from the Tree Commission or ODNRs Urban Forestry Division. He confused the trees by referring to them as Redwoods when in fact the tree removed in front of the Armory was a beautiful old growth Red Maple. The tree on the S curve was a Linden, also known as a Basswood and by far two of my favorites in the park. I guess if you put them both together you get a Redwood? These trees had stood for every bit of over one hundred years and were iconic trees in notable locations, trees that stood to help give the park its grandeur! The explanation that was given in the article about the safety concerns is a bit disingenuous. Removing trees because they have dead wood or bad branches is just an excuse to remove them. Proper pruning to remove the hazards and save these beautiful old trees should be the mandatory practice and its the mandate of the Tree Commission to stress such practices not to rubber stamp removals. All those trees were standing when I served the city and we pruned as necessary. From what I have heard from others, and this is only hearsay, but the real reason for the removal of the Armorys Red Maple is to make room for a parking lot? Another reason the Tree Commission should be advocating for the trees and not more asphalt in our park. I was also told that the tree removal company that provided the free service was not registered with the city as a licensed contractor? I guess it is okay to break your own rules and laws when youre getting something for free? Over the last few days I have spoken to Jim Slyh the Chairman of the Tree Commission and Ann Bonner the State of Ohios Urban Forester and expressed my concerns and disappointment with the decisions of the commission. I asked them to fight the tough fight, advocate as they should and be cognizant of the importance of the decisions they make on our public lands. This was all my original post on this subject was intended to do! Have a great day and GO BUCKS!!
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 19:40:39 +0000
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