While visiting relatives in Charlotte this week, my mother handed me a news clipping that she had saved from The Charlotte Observer. Apparently, when it comes to construction projects, city officials in Charlotte are as insensitive to preserving trees as those in Atlanta.
The story here is that Charlotte city officials felt that for safety and "walkability" issues they needed to remove the mature 80 year old oak trees from the front yards of residents who lived along Park Road in order to install a sidewalk, even though the opposite side of the street already has a sidewalk. The project cost the City $400,000 to close a .2 mile gap in the sidewalk along that side of the street.
Here is a slide show of the tree cutting day.
Affected residents asked the City to wait until it completed a study of the Park Road corridor before removing trees to install a sidewalk they didn't feel was even necessary, but the City just couldn't wait. Residents appealed to City Council who apparently ignored their protests because they don't get involved in projects under $100,000. City Manager Curt Walton advised City Council on Jan. 7 that the bid amount was for only $74,000, according to a March 20th Charlotte Observer article.
"It still seems impractical to tear down the trees, rip up the yards - then do a study to see if what you forced on the residents is really what they wanted and what the corridor needed," said Deborah Robinson, a board member with the Sedgefield Neighborhood Association, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer.
Sounds to me like $400,000 was burning a hole through someone's pocket and someone else couldn't wait to get their hands on it.
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