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There’s a lot less shade on the Common, these days. Dozens of mature trees have been cut down to make way for the roundabout construction on North Park and Cunard Streets, leaving some park-goers angry.
“They’re cutting down all our beautiful, ancient trees and all for what? For nothing,” says Daniel Towsey. “You don’t cut down 500-year-old trees anywhere in the world. Nobody does that.”
Towsey, who lives nearby on Robie Street, says he was shocked to see the trees coming down on public land without what he feels was proper notice.
“The Common belongs to the people. They should have asked us, ‘Do you want a rotary?’ And we would have said, ‘No, we want our trees.'”
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The trees are being removed for the construction of the first of two roundabouts planned for North Park Street. The nearly $13 million project started last week by digging up the road in front of the Halifax Armoury. It’s intended to alleviate traffic concerns by creating a one-lane circle at North Park and Cunard. A two-lane circle further south at Cogswell will be constructed next year.
Construction crews over the next few days will finish chopping down 33 mature trees from along the Common’s edge to make space for the roundabouts. The tops of the trees are being mulched, while sections of the trunks will be turned into custom benches.
According to the city, the tree management plan for the North Park Intersection Redesign project is based on the recommendations of the Urban Forest Master Plan, which Council approved in 2012 to guide new tree planting.
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It’s estimated that over the next two years, crews will plant 124 new trees on the Common to make up for the loss. An additional 30 trees currently in the area will be “candidates for transplantation” to another area of the park. That’s all of little comfort to Towsey.
“It’s gonna take 500 years before those trees offer any shade,” he says.
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This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2014.
is there anything at all left that people aren’t gonna whine about?
Apparently not. You’re whining right now.
These are not 500-year-old trees-get your facts straight.
“You don’t cut down 500-year-old trees anywhere in the world. Nobody does that.”-This is a broad, sweeping comment that isn’t true (although I wish it were)-get your facts straight.
“It’s gonna take 500 years before those trees offer any shade,”-Trees can begin producing shade as early as 10 to 15 years, depending on species-get your facts straight.
It’s a shame, but it’s happening, and all Towsey has done is made himself look silly.
How about some before and after pics to help show the change?
David Foster has a good article on why this is a good thing:
http://www.sierraclub.ca/en/node/6713
I didn’t think Reality Bites could actually get WORSE than it was under TBuckets, because it was already truly bad…but, wow, has it ever!
I hate to see those trees cut down too, but even worse is the idea that any trees died for the print version of this extremely poor article.
The Coast is really getting worse and worse all the time.
That piece in the Sierra Club, linked to above, proves this article worthless.
Halifax was founded in 1749. Does anybody actually think those trees were standing back then and somehow managed to avoid homebuilding, ship building, or fireplaces over the past 3 centuries, let alone 5? Oy vey.
the comments on this are hilarious. The roundabouts are a good plan, and there will be more trees on the way. I also like how they are making benches and not mulching the whole tree.
For more from Mr. Towsey…check out Folk Photographer on You Tube. The videos posted by this Conspiracy Hack/Crackpot are well worth a look. That’s all I’ll say on this matter…I’ll let his videos speak for themselves. Cheers.
Five hundred years to get shade from a tree? What type tree would that be? Not the types I have seen around here that sprout up, and out, in just a few years, giving much shade to areas, people etc.