Dear Neighbors,
You may have noticed that many of the elm trees on all three blocks of Fresno Avenue are sick. Some have been removed. The City's Department of Forestry reports that our trees are infected with Dutch Elm disease and that they all will die over the next three years. Trees scheduled for immediate removal have red targets painted on the street-facing sides of their trunks.
The City bears the expense of removing the trees and digging out their stumps. Although the City also provides potted saplings, home owners are responsible for planting and nurturing the trees. The City offers a wide variety of replacement species, which are essentially infant trees (less than five feet in stature), but more mature trees are available at extra cost to the home owner.
The charm of our street derives in large part from our bower of elms. Indeed, Fresno without them is unimaginable. We must therefore join together to make certain that the City understands how important these trees are not only to our happiness but also to the value of our property. We must persuade the City that this is a human environmental catastrophe worthy of special action. At the risk of sounding cynical, it is very important that we let the city know that a scorched-earth approach to this problem is unacceptable. We want preventative treatment where appropriate. Importantly, trees must be removed gradually as necessary, not because it is more “cost effective” to remove large numbers of them at once.
We have contacted Jerry Koch, head of the City's Forestry Department. He has agreed to meet with the neighborhood at 7:00 PM on Thursday evening, September 4. We will host the neighborhood meeting in our home at 945 Fresno. We propose the following agenda:
Please phone or
us with your name, address, phone number, and how many will attend. Because
of limited seating, we ask that no more than two persons from each address
attend. Feel free to suggest additional relevant agenda items.
Joe and Cynthia Campbell
945 Fresno Ave.