Marked with a green ribbon, trees along southwest Queen Avenue are scheduled for felling.
A reader asked me Sunday if the trees on Queen Avenue marked with green ribbons were to be cut down. I told her I would check on Monday. And the answer is yes, the city intends to have those trees felled.
Councilman Dick Olsen thinks tree cutting in Albany has gone too far. “It seems to me we’re in the process of becoming a treeless city,” he told the council Monday night.
Olsen asked about this at the end of the council’s work session. He had seen the ribbons on trees near the church he attends at Queen and Elm. There are more green ribbons on trees across from Memorial Middle School.
City Engineer Staci Belcastro told him “some trees” were to be taken down for a project to repave Queen Avenue from Pacific Boulevard to the west city limits.
Without giving details, she said the city had a contractor for the tree cutting, and she expected it to be done by the end of the month. The street project includes new sidewalks and a water line, and the roots apparently are thought to interfere.
Olsen said it looked like a “tree-removal project” to him. He objects to it. And even if new trees are planted, he said, they won’t do any good for a couple of decades.
A few blocks north of Queen, 20 street trees were cut down and the stumps pulled up when a section of Ninth Avenue was rebuilt in 2020. In February 2021, nine street trees in one block of Second Avenue downtown were axed on the grounds that they interfered with the roof of the adjoining state offices.
Unless I missed it, the council has not awarded a contract for the Queen Avenue job. The city’s online listing shows no such contract or invitation to bid. So, more details — such as how many trees and what kind — will have to wait until I can reach someone who knows. (hh)
Olsen needs to grow up.
A city is an artificial ecological system operated by humans.
A planted tree is no different than other man-made features like streetlights or bike lanes. They are put in by humans for human convenience.
There is nothing wrong with loving trees. But let’s rise above the emotionalism.
Trees are tools for a city. Easily imposed. Easily managed and removed for the greater good.
A safer, smoother traffic flow is scientifically better than a forest of temporary city trees.
Willful blindness is not a virtue.
What I like about cities is the concrete jungle and then they insist on planting trees, bushes, etc. along the sidewalks which cracks the concrete and obstructs the view when you are trying to enter the road. If you want trees, plant them in your yard.
I agree with Dick Olsen. We seem to be coming a treeless city. It’s scandalous how many trees have been cut down in this city in the last year.
Sounds a bit like Portland. Recently there was a bit on the Portland TV news that the Tree Canopy in Portland had diminished over the last five or ten years and that it was a concern.
In the next sentence they said that many trees are being cut so they can build “new, affordable” housing.
This goes along with the State having said, in the past, that “we are loosing wetlands and don’t know where it is going.” It should be pretty obvious – they let people fill in existing wetlands if they purchase property from someone who agrees to make wetlands in another area.
Go Figure!!!
Have the signs been removed yet?
The “Tree City USA” USA USA USA signs?
They should be!
I’ll be looking. And waiting.
Notwithstanding the hyperbole being bandied about, the signs will be around for a very-very-long time…
If taking them down is a must thats one thing, but i think that some should be replaced. The type of trees should also be taken into consideration. The flowering plums are beautiful but the fruit left behind on side walks and streets are messy and dangerous…. Give some thought and do some homework on what will best fit the area..
what folks dont realize is the vegetation is very important.
It helps the air quality.. even can keep the temperatures lower around town,also provides places for our feathered friends and dog walks fur babies feet.
Just a thought