Sunday, April 01, 2007

Slack Plaza tree removal explained by Charleston’s horticultural consultant

In this Charleston Gazette story that ran on Friday, Charleston’s horticultural consultant explains the recent tree removal at Slack Plaza.
It’s an imperfect science, as visitors to Slack Plaza have found. People wonder why city officials last week cut down more than a dozen mature Bradford pear trees there, which otherwise would be blooming in all their spring glory.

As it turns out, Bradfords are weak. As they grow large, their limbs have a habit of breaking off. At Slack Plaza, pear trees planted when the park was built in 1983 or 1984 provided shade for folks who sat on benches and walls.

“It’s amazing no one got hit on the head here,” Vasale said. “We lost so many branches.” He’s been asking the city to remove them for about five years.


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2 Comments:

Blogger Stanton said...

Translation - "This is a convenient rationalization to absorb the heat for an incredibly stupid decision."

Perhaps they can now say the spikes were to prevent people from sitting in the "Falling Pear Tree Zone" making that rediculous idea look like an act of compassion.

2:28 PM  
Blogger Josie said...

You got it!

They're damned liars, anyway. I live in a building directly overlooking the park. I look down there day and night. And I walk through the park frequently. I have lived in this apartment for over a year, and in the building for something like six years, and I have NEVER, EVER seen a branch down, lying on the ground, or being carted off, from one of those trees. Not so much as a twig, as a matter of fact. And you should see how healthy-looking the insides of the limbs and the trunks were. Maybe the trees had only a few years left in them, but they were NOT falling apart yet.

Over a year ago, moreover, the parks dept. people were muttering to my neighbor that they were planning to take down the trees because they sheltered the low-lifes on the benches beneath. Such crap.

When we see what they turn the park into, we'll know why all this has gone down.

2:11 AM  

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