Turns out, we may not want the city to hurry its slow progress on the new 19th Ave sidewalks. A few of the trees along the stretch have been marked by the city for ‘possible’ removal. The last time we saw signs like this (on Broadway), the trees were toast. Fuel (and others, we’re sure) are asking people to call the city to speak for the trees — call (206)684-TREE or drop the city arborist a quick e-mail with your thoughts.
The trees are the culprits for the broken, cracked, heaving sidewalks. Nothing but removing them will fix the problem. If you want an even surface to walk on (who doesn’t?), the trees have to go. I’m a total treehugger and I hate saying this, but trees that close to sidewalks is not a good mix for an urban setting, and city planners should have thought of that decades ago.
Just wanted to rile up the hippies. That’s all.
I wrote Nolan Rundquist about this (call me a hippie) and got a prompt and very reasonable reply from Nolan. An excerpt:
“I’ve had one of my staff out at the 19th Av site all day yesterday and today, working with our tree crew to prune roots and do all that we can to get a sidewalk back in and retain the trees. We have expanded some of the tree pit areas, and I’m pleased to say that we can save the majority, but unfortunately, it’s going to be impossible to retain all 6 trees that are affected by the sidewalk repair.
We have worked extensively with our Sidewalk Safety Repair program manager to try and come up with solutions, but it looks like the southernmost trees on both the east and west sides will be impacted so severely that removal will be necessary.”
As much as I love street trees (and am glad that the City has committed to planting more), there is a place for removal of trees. I really think we can trust the City Arborist staff to know what they are doing…they seem to bend over backwards to save trees..they certainly are more knowledgeable about this issue than the average citizen who screams hysterically every time a tree is removed.
In the past, many inappropriate trees were planted on our parking strips (too large for the site, prone to upending sidewalks, etc.), and some of these need to be removed to make way for new, better trees. The important thing is that there is no net loss of trees, and in fact the City will be increasing our tree canopy in the coming years.
You’ll see the history of misguided (or just ignorant) tree plantings done over the years. It’s nearly impossible to walk through that section of North Capitol Hill and not trip over some stretch of sidewalk being shoved up or over by some massive tree root.
The reality of the small space between those businesses and the street is that they just can’t support that many really large trees. Hopefully they’ll replant with something more appropriate.
FYI – When we planted our parking strip we made sure to use one of the city approved trees (yes, there’s a list). They don’t grow too tall or shoot out too many surface roots, so hopefully we won’t contribute to the problem.
There is a proposal to build a 52 unit apartment complex at 607 19th Avenue East, co. of East Mercer. The building where Monsoon is housed would be demolished. Concerned neighbors such as myself are concerned about the implications for traffic, parking, pedestrian safety and also the future of the beautiful boulevard of trees on 19th Ave East and old, shady trees on the property. Design meeting is Wed June 18 2008 8pm Seattle Vocational Institute 2120 South Jackson St Rm 102/103.
Check out http://www.pelicanbayfoundation.org
The artists who saved the building wherein Fuel and the Kingfish reside also created the mural on the south wall and one of the artists hooked up with the city to plant the trees. The city gave her the trees to plant. Looks like the city must be changing what types of trees are considered appropriate. Real estate speculators and investors and new condos… read our history and you will see we know a bit about that. Our artists’ foundation now resides in South Park, but began in the Pelican Bay Artists’ Co-operative building at 606 19th Ave. East and was my home for 19 years.
I just read the prior comment about the mural. Again, info on the mural is in our website. We had a show in Fuel in 2005, “Homage to Pelican Cove Cafe”.
Good luck to the Monsoon.
http://www.arthurleej.com/a-specialcapt.html
I found the above link interesting and informative about trees in Capitol Hill; their history and type.