Town of Vienna Assistant Arborist Sounds Off

"Virtually no where else are towns tearing down building for use as green space. Remember, it's usually the other way around."

This is why we are p**sed off.

since when is using tax dollars to tear down a viable commercial building to create dead space considered a good thing? of COURSE it's usually the other way around--it SHOULD be!

When you have power hungry politicians who are in office only for their self serving reasons and not the people, than you are right Rebecca nothing gets done. Any person with a differing idea in Vienna will be kicked to the curb, and land smack down on the crumbling brick sidewalks.

Water drenches the sidewalks all day long, but trees within 20 ft of the leaky fountain are all dying from no water. Go Maud!

Where are Kelleher's friends of the TG? The kids are overburdened with things to do therefore saving the trees for them seems to be more important. Otherwise having the children water the trees would be a fun and useful exercise. Now our fine arborist can run a seminar at the TG explaining consequences of not caring for newly plant trees and bushes.

The Town employs 2 of the finest arborists/horticulturists I ever had the pleasure of working with, but it also keeps their hands tied because of financial resources.

Do these fine arborists know how to work a hose to water a tree? That's pretty much Arborist 101, right?

Or, is the Town water just simply too expensive? The towns rates sure are going up every day.

Hey Edythe - how's that transfer to county water going? Will it be your campaign again this year (along with cable tv)?

Who wanted the Town Green Rebecca???? The Town never asked any body other then their little power click if a Town Green was suitable.....We as tax payers do appreciate your efforts. But...

Now that I read this, the idea of having a group of children water the dead trees sounds better and better. I guess the private citizen always does stuff better:

Plant a tree, — save a life

Harry Jaffe, The DC Examiner
2007-08-07

WASHINGTON -

Don’t believe the weather men or women when they say it’s about to rain. Sure, some of us got a sprinkle Sunday night. Then we went back to hazy, hot, humid — and very, very dry.

Pop-up storms are popping up somewhere else. Here in Washington, we are ground zero in a regionwide drought. Farmers in Virginia and Maryland are fretting over brown-eared corn and drooping soybean crops. Here in the city, our communal crop is trees, and they are suffering.

It’s time to get out our buckets and our hoses, check the ’hood for newly planted saplings and drench them. Every day, if possible.

This is Betsy Cavendish’s approach. She and her neighbors around Pinehurst Circle, along the D.C. and Maryland line, have organized what Cavendish calls “a hardy band of waterers.”

Cavendish is an original member of the PT Cruisers, a group of environmentalists organized by Beth Mullin around the Pinehurst Tributary of Rock Creek. Concerned about the declining health of their little creek — the trash in the water and the vines choking its banks — they organized the Cruisers to act very locally. They pick up the trash and whack back the vines

But how could they stabilize the stream banks and stop erosion?

Enter the Casey Tree Endowment Fund, established by philanthropist Betsy Casey to plant and care for D.C. trees. The Cruisers applied to Casey Trees for a grant to plant trees. Casey approved their request. On April 16, 400 volunteers turned out to plant 70 trees along Alberfoyle Road, Beach Drive, Western Avenue and Pinehurst Circle.

In July, Cavendish and Mullin saw 70 thirsty river birches and redbuds and blackgums and American Hornbeams, not to mention the oaks. Out went the e-mails and the phone calls. Volunteers hauled buckets and aimed hoses. Cavendish made her “wheeled watering device” available. Judy Moy took a 46-gallon trash barrel to Pinehurst Circle.

“By and large our trees are thriving,” she says.

Not so for the trees planted by the city’s Urban Forestry Administration. The city plants about 4,000 trees a year, but many of them are dying for lack of water. Says Cavendish: “A lot of the trees recently planted by the city are faring much worse than our trees.”

Which is why the Department of Transportation is about to start a campaign — backed by spiffy billboards — to ask residents to water young saplings.

Casey Trees takes a more targeted approach. It partners with elementary schools such as Murch and Janey, or churches such as St. Sophia’s on Massachusetts Avenue or Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist across the Anacostia River, to plant trees.

“They are pretty much responsible for watering the trees,” says Milan Davis, manager of Casey’s field operations. “They do a fantastic job. We are out watering every day, too.”

Davis tells me new trees need 40 gallons of water a week. In this summer’s heat and drought, watering trees is a matter of life and death.Adopt one tree. Water it well. Watch it thrive. Feel better about life.
Examiner

Vienna Mommy, I'm going to have to stop you there.
As much as I dislike foul language in an intellectual discussion, there really is no other way to say this.
[...] off. [...] the dead trees. Quit whining about your so called "Drought". I have a lot of family living in Australia, and they have been in a drought for almost eight years. EIGHT YEARS. Correct me if I’m wrong, but we have it [...] good in America. So turn of that damned fountain, thank the Good Lord for all the water you do get, pull out those dead trees, burn them, and put hardier trees in. Believe it or not, the trees that naturally grow in this area will grow in the Town Green. Unless your "Arborist" doesn't know $#!+ from clay, in which case just turn your attention to more pressing matters. Like gang violence near our schools, or the complete lack of sane individuals in your government. Or even, God forbid, the fact that the Historic District is a load of [...].

Impartial, do you really believe that this discussion is about the trees? Don't you realize that the whole issue is about responsibility of our Town Council and Town Manager. Personally I did not think you needed to express yourself with four letter words.

My sincerest apologies (no sarcasm). I just got a little ticked about that article. Usually I try to avoid use of "four letter words", but I had a feeling that polite language would not be able to accurately express my annoyance. I totally agree with you, Stop Look and Listen, it's a management issue. If the Town Government could go back to school and learn the meaning of representation, the Town would have sidewalks and other things the taxpayers will want and need. As much as I love nature, sometimes it's better to have a useful building.

Vienna Mommy, I'm going to have to stop you there.
As much as I dislike foul language in an intellectual discussion, there really is no other way to say this.
[...] off. [...] the dead trees. Quit whining about your so called "Drought".

Small children are dying in all parts of the world. EVERYONE STOP THEIR WHINING. I want this site shut down immediately since there are bigger issues in the world. Fin.