Forestry Dept Begins Long-Overdue Street Tree Maintenance on Washington Ave
A few days ago I did a post on the deferred maintenance along a stretch of Washington Ave (posted at 2:43pm on Wednesday). The main issue was the fact that nine out of 41 trees (over 20%) had been cut down and not replaced between 14th and 18th. Of course I had a picture of each and every stump to illustrate the point that maintenance was lacking on a street that underwent a massive (and costly) streetscape makeover just over five years ago.
Earlier today employees from the city’s Forestry Dept ground out one of the nine stumps. Eight remain. Still I was encouraged (and a bit surprised) to see the crew out doing this work on a Saturday morning. Perhaps today was just a test to see how long each might take? Also they’ll need to ban on-street parking in the remaining areas to get their equipment into place.
Above, getting the grinder into position required blocking the crosswalk for a few moments.
By 10:30am one offending stump was gone.
The crew cleaned up the mess and left. Hopefully this Fall we’ll see a newly planted tree in this spot and the eight others.
On a related note New York Magazine last year had an interesting article on the worth of street trees:
The standard formula says a dwelling with a tree in front is worth .88 percent more than a home without one.
That is $880 per $100K. The ability to clean the air, create shade and absorb water runoff is all part of the value. The loss of nine street trees in a distance of four blocks thus devalues the whole area.
It is eerie how often you write about a problem and someone addresses the issue within a week…maybe only a small percentage of the time, but more often than mere chance would suggest. Mind doing a write-up on the travesty that is the Tower Grove/Center Circle & Magnolia intersection?
We need some sweetgums on Washington Avenue.
Being more than bit cynical, was the stump grinding being done just to eliminate a trip-and-fall hazard? And are there any actual plans to replace the dead trees? If it were me, I’d be digging up the old root ball and filling the hole, temporarily, with dirt now, and not leaving half the problem for tree-planting time . . .
Plus, it is good to see at least three city employees being paid overtime to do the work of one or two . . .
Duckworht are you being sarcastic? I have a sweet gum in front of my house and when it drops those sweet gum balls it creates quite the hazard to walk on.
I enjoyed sidewalks & street trees when I lived on the southside. I had one in front of my house! Now that I’m north of Delmar, I’ve learned to walk in the street. I’m on the main traffic corridor that heads north to McKinley Bridge, so it is pretty busy with few stop signs, sort of like Arsenal or Fyler. Lots of people walking to the bus, nowhere to walk but the street. Ditto with the occasional wheelchair. It is one of those little things that makes a neighborhood look “poor”… people in the street strike the eye as a little untidy… why aren’t they on the sidewalk?
We don’t have sidewalks at all on my block, although we do have a massive curb cut and connecting slab at 19th & Hebert, just nothing for it to connect to. Rehabbers in ONSL are slowly building out the sidewalk system again bit by bit, but it is non-continuous so thus not of use to a walker or wheeler. I walk to my friend’s house most evenings to chat, every time wondering if the car coming around the Schoemehl pots is going to see me in the dark.
For those who don’t know, Schoemehl pots are big culverts full of dirt in the middle of intersections all over the northside residential areas, used to slow down the cars so they don’t hit people walking in the street. To me, the sidewalk is the more elegant solution to this problem!
MOdot, as stated before, have eliminated over 70 old growth trees that provided shade, noise abatement, absorbed water and helped provide clean air. Not one has been replaced in the New 64 project and the designed green space has been reduced… and you complain about a few trees? Get real!
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Trees are very important but in this regard the StL region continues to go downhill so that a few 1000 auto-pickup truck drivers can have more roads while we get a lower standard of living.
^^^ Hwy 40 wasn’t the topic of the post.
I think a few missing street trees are a big deal, it’s all about quality of life. I wish people would stop requesting street trees to be cut down on my south side block.
The topic is the failure to preserve trees. The green space provided along the New 64 use to have over 70 old growth trees but were unnecessarily eliminated by MOdot. This situation is much worse than a few new trees in downtown but both situations demonstrate how leadership in the Lou region cares little about quality of life issues.
I love having a big, mature street tree in front of my house. I wish the city would trim it more often, but I’ve only requested it once in five years of living there, so that’s partly on me.
I wish the tree roots hadn’t lifted up the sidewalk, but, again, I called the alderman and about three years later, those two squares were replaced at no cost to me, by contractors paid by the city.
But I agree, for the millions of Federal dollars spent on Washington Ave infrastructure, it could use a little tidying. Then again, we could say that about lots of places. Been to the plaza in front of the Shrine of St. Joseph, just a few blocks walk north at 11th and Biddle? I stopped by last week; the planting beds terribly overgrown. A real shame, since it’s a beautiful church, and the houses surrounding it — though early 1980s boxes — actually provide a nice urban feeling. If it was just used a little more, it might actually be cared for. As it is, I don’t feel safe hanging out there very long, even during the work day.