Posted on 02/21/2013 2:13:13 PM PST by null and void
PORTLAND -- Activists stood beside a 12-story sequoia tree Thursday morning that the city of Portland planned to cut down to make way for a pedestrian and bicycle greenway.
The protestors crossed over caution tape and their presence halted the chopping down of the sequoia along with other, less iconic trees close by.
Neighbors in Portland's St. Johns area have been battling the city plan to cut down the decades-old tree in Pier Park.
The tree at the center of the controversy is a giant sequoia that stands about 120 feet tall and measures 18 feet around. It's one of a couple dozen giant sequoias in Pier Park, but the only one on the chopping block.
Park visitors have already pinned up a little memorial on the trees trunk asking the city to reconsider. The problem is that the tree sits in the way of a major project, according to Portland Parks and Recreation officials.
The city is building a ten-mile long pedestrian and bike trail called the North Portland Greenway. Once completed, the trail will connect North Portland to downtown. Plans call for a bridge to be built over a set of railroad tracks, and according to the city, that sequoia tree is in the way.
Park visitors want the city to build around the tree instead of taking it down.
If I come here tomorrow morning and that tree isn't there, Im going to cry," said Chris Fountain, one of a number of neighbors fighting to save it. "It means a lot to me.
The city said it looked at several alternatives. In the end, however, city officials felt that removing this one tree was the best option.
The only way to do this trail, which is going to be a valuable connector for the city going forward, is to take care of this tree instead of several other ones in its place, said Mark Ross with Portland Parks and Recreation.
The city, in turn, said it will plant seven giant sequoias, along with dozens of other trees, on the other side of the bridge as part of the North Portland Greenway project.
It also said all the wood from the giant sequoia will be re-purposed and used in a nature play area in Westmoreland Park.
If the project stays on schedule, the tree will be cut down on Thursday.
Nothing to say, just wanted to be the first to post.
The city is building a ten-mile long pedestrian and bike trail called the North Portland Greenway. Once completed, the trail will connect North Portland to downtown.
Ironic. This “bike trail” is part of Agenda 21 which is running head on into the enviro-wackos that perpetuated Agenda 21 in the first place.
Suppose that "Chris" is male or female? :-)
I wish that I could get that worked up over a tree. Wonder how this person deals with events that are actually life-shattering?
Greenies vs. greenies.
I’m all in favor of leaving the tree if possible. It’s really not clear why they can’t just go around it. What, joggers and cyclists can’t do a bit of a turn around a tree?
Suppose that "Chris" is male or female? :-)
I dunno, but he or she is definitely a fountain.
The very same kind of leftist SOB’s who wouldn’t give a damn if my home got demolished for a ‘bike path.’
Honestly, I pictured him as an ironic, hipster, metrosexual-type guy, with a neatly trimmed beard, wearing those stupid-looking horn-rimmed glasses, and a organic free-range fair trade double-mocha-venti cappuchino (light cream, please) in one hand and whatever the latest version is of I-Appleproduct in the other.
Exactly...Why can’t they go around it?????????????????????
Why not go through it? I remember seeing pictures of one with a road through it as a kid.
Watching the show Portlandia is a must. It’s streaming on Netflix.
This story would fit perfectly.
The neighbor Chris lives in a very blue collar working class area. The park is very close to the Kaiser shipyards that built the Liberty Ships in WWII. In recent years minorities have moved in.
The trail will probably become the crime highway just like the light rail system has helped move criminals into the suburbs.
I’m with the hippy scum on this one. Can’t they just reroute the path a few feet?
Oh, great, they'll chip the tree up and use it for mulch. I'm with the "hippie scum" on this one.
It’s sounds like a skit from that show.
Me too.
Not really. There appear ro be 5 sequoia encircling the access to a bridge, separated by not much more than the width of the bike trail. This one is the most inconventientlty placed (from the view of a cyclopediaist)
They have others, more are to be planted, let it begone.
How can they possibly be so uncaring as to want to cut down such a wonderful, ancient, rare, huge tree? Are they too dense to understand that the path can be diverted around it? It can be done from a little distance away so as to make sure bikers don’t slam into the tree and get hurt. Is a smooth transition around the tree too much for these dummies to comprehend? This is again one more example of the asinine stupidity of bureaucrats. What is the point of a path without the beauty and grandeur of nature to experience as you go down it?
I can only think of Arther Dent. On a Thursday morning. He never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.