Quick Update: Street Trees
Kevin has a great post up at Bull City Rising about the latest hack job on our major street trees.
The assault on street trees, from transportation engineers and power companies, has been in full force for at least four decades now.
We should have begun burying power lines after the ice storm of 2002 made clear how antiquated it is to drape service lines around in the air - after all, our water, sewer, and gas have been buried for over 100 years. However, the power company pulled an exorbitant figure out of the air and instead began a more agressive topping of our willow oaks.
But beyond that, the urban design should not be determined by the needs of the power company. These mature shade trees are a major part of what makes these streets beautiful. There is ample evidence of the benefit of shade trees - reduction of energy consumption, as Kevin points out, but also the creation (with sidewalks) of a walkable environment - people exercise more in the shade, and the shade canopy protects from UV exposure. A crepe myrtle just can't hack it, so to speak.
I don't know the legal structure of the city's arrangement with Duke Power, but it would be nice if we brought some pressure to bear to stop destroying our urban landscape. Can we get a new power company? I don't know. Willow Oaks can live 150-200 years, but these middle-agers are not going to make it at this rate, and I think, for the power companies, that would be just fine.
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7 comments:
The willow oaks are nice. They're also huge, and will get bigger. One of the tree books I have (I think it's Audobon's field guide to eastern North American trees) specifically says that the only problem with these trees is that they tend to get too big when planted in an urban setting.
By the way, in-between writing this comment and one on Kevin's blog, a huge piece of tree fell over in my neighbor's yard. Fortunately it went in her yard instead of the other way into the power lines. It almost took out a piece of my fence next door, but it looks like all it really took out was some of her lawn furniture. I wish my camera were back from repair, because I can't believe the coincidence, and would love to post a picture.
Addendum: it apparently happened at 11 last night, close enough to still look fresh. Sorry for the error, but I still wish I had a picture. :)
as we were driving past the gutted trees on broad yesterday, matt wondered why durham hasn't already begun burying older powerlines.
is it more expensive to bury them than to chop up the oaks and maples?
Joe
I'm not really sure what too big is for a tree. I will grant that the willow oaks may not be the best choice unless you have enough room between sidewalk and street to accommodate the root system.
Libby
You've got me. Duke Power doesn't seem to be hurting for cash. With their monopoly/for-profit status, it seems that the city should play hardball with them to pay for a gradual burying of the powerlines. The money saved in tree maintenance and constant repairs to powerlines damaged by ice, trees, wind, lightning, cars running into poles, etc., etc. would make up the difference over time.
GK
G: I think that means "bigger than the person who planted it expected." But leaving 75-foot borders (or whatever) around saplings obviously isn't going to work either. I bet the willow oak next door (in the middle of someone's back yard) is 75 feet tall. It's gorgeous.
In my experience locally, lots of people complain when the trees get trimmed. Whether that's because it's always done badly or we have a lot of complainers (or some other reason or combination thereof) is not apparent to me, but it has made me relatively insensitive to complaints about it. I notice from Kevin's blog that some of the complaints came from one of the more politically powerful neighborhoods this time; maybe that's why the trimming stopped. It'll be interesting to see if there's any helpful, long-term change.
Apparently some places are experimenting with rubber sidewalks to deal with concrete ones torn up by willow oaks. Rubber sidewalks sound cool, but that of course doesn't help with the power line problem. I don't think very many people think 100 or even 50 or 25 years ahead in terms of urban planning. But I'm not an urban planner. :) But now I do wonder if tree roots are ever a problem for underground power lines? Any idea?
Joe
I understand the frustration, because the current 'pause' is the kind of thing that occurs when the hacking occurs in a Place That Matters. Much like the demolition of houses, there will be some useless verbiage thrown around by the perpetrators, and then business as usual will begin again. If Durham would sound a consistent drumbeat for underground power, we might get it.
Unfortunately, the power company seems to produce all of the answers to questions about burying power lines, and they simply don't want to be bothered. My prime example of this was, after the ice storm in 2002, when the drumbeat was particularly loud, the power company said that the benefits would be minimal, the cost would be in the billions, and they would have to cut down every street tree in Durham to do it. C'mon - can ya be a bit more subtle in your scare tactics?
Everything in the US seems to advocate for powerlines, the danger of trees, the expense and uselessness of buried lines, etc. But why are all of the new subdivisions buried if it is so undesirable? I read a government/power co. publication from Perth, Australia, which touted the myriad benefits of the buried lines ("fewer service disruptions, higher property values"). So I think it's just an industry with a monopoly that is making plenty of cash right now, thank you very much, without having to risk getting stuck with the admittedly large and protracted job of burying the lines.
I say bring in the competitors! I want to buy my power from a buried-line company.
GK
Gary: That makes a lot of sense. If bringing in another power company would somehow help, I'd be in favor of it. But as I was just reminded on another blog, de-regulation hasn't seemed to help much in the communications industry. It sure as hell didn't help the power situation in California several years ago (but I think even a moderately bright child could see that the way California went about it was f$ked up). Gray Davis even lost the governorship of CA to Ahnold over it, IMO. I think I'd still want to give it a whirl, if just to see what the existing monopolies would scream. :)
You're right about "the power company seems to produce all of the answers to questions about burying power lines." That's why someone needs to come up with hard answers about how to do this, including answers to the questions of cost. Hopefully those hard answers will refute the complaints of the power companies. If they don't, it seems unlikely the situation will improve. If we just wind up with higher power bills and no or minimal improvement in service, then it'll be considered a loss, no matter how many trees are spared (I'm sorry if that sounds cold).
BTW, I used to live in one of those new subdivisions where everything had to be buried. During the power outage that occurred then (Hurricane Fran), my power seemed to be out about an average length of time, although I admit that simply talking to people is not a very scientific way of approaching this. But I didn't really like living there anyway, as I couldn't comfortably walk to a damn thing. :)
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