INC NEWS - Our Green Infrastructure Needs Help

[RW Pickle]

Please excuse the last TWO emails as I struggle with the Dell because my
Mac is in the shop. It has a mind of its own...

In the last email where I said I had discovered a serious problem that
required immediate attention, well it got worse today.

Today, a Durham park has been closed because of the dangerous and dead
trees. If you recall, I mentioned the small storm we had on the evening of
July 4th had shown that this City is not able to take care of the problems
as they occur, much less maintain the status quo. Urban Forestry is doing
all they can do to keep up with our dead and dieing trees. The drought,
freak storms, DOT and other factors have them so far behind that it is
impossible for them to catch up. They need some help!

After the July 4th storm, that weekend (and into the evenings) they
responded to 74 calls of downed trees blocking roads. Only 4 of the were
from City owned property. The rest, were homeowners trees that had fallen.
They'll work all week and then come in Sunday and work just to try to make
a dent. This is dangerous work and you can't expect them tthem to continue
this at this pace.

Today, Shady Oaks Park was closed. The pine beetle infestation (suspected)
has destroyed a substantial number of pines. So much so , that it was
dangerous to allow the public to use the park. Our parks have taken a
beating from the drought as well. Within 300 yards of where I sit writing
this email, there are three downed hickorys and several dead standing
oaks. I have looked at four fallen trees in Northgate Park (I go to the
dog park there daily) for more than a month. I finally took the time this
week to remove a 20' branch from the road where we had been driving around
it for a week. And the list goes on. Morehead Hills Park has dead and
fallen trees. Rockwood Park looks like a bomb went off in it. A member of
Urban Forestry told me today that one needs to be wearing a hard hat when
they go there. Yet moms and dads will take their kids there today to enjoy
the playground.

Since January, there have been two cars totaled from falling dead tree
debris and another incident where it broke a windshield. How long will it
be before one of these hits a child and causes serious injury or even
death? What do you guess that would cost?

I am proposing that the City of Durham immdiantly prepare a work contract
for helping Urban Forestry catch up to the mess three of the last years of
drought have caused. A contract for $29,975 could be executed in less than
three days and next week we could begin dealing with this problem that
only seems to increase in monemtum. In the mean time work toward a
$400,000  contract to get us caught up. I have already found the money to
make this happen. Because of the large number for dollars amount needed
for this work, it'll be Oct. before Council has the opportunity to sign
off on it. In the mean time, we're dealing with a problem that is only
getting larger and will eventually (and could really) get more expensive.

Please support this initiative for the immediate influx of cash to fix our
green infrastructure. It's in serious trouble and needs help. If you live
on or use a park frequently, send me the photos of the dead and downed
trees and tell me in what park they are in. We have 65 of them and I can't
get around to see them all. Help me help our citizens create a friendly
and safe environment in our park system for our kids to play. It's no ones
fault that this has happened. But it will be ours if we don't do something
about it right now. Pass this along to your neighborhoods so everyone
knows we need their support to fix this growing (well, it really isn't
growing, it's a dead) problem.

RWP
27 Beverly