Goodbye Old Majestic

I first heard about this tree a few weeks ago when a fellow RoswellNEXT board member who owns a property on Goulding Place shared the sad news.  The owner of the property on which the tree stands (not my friend) who is completely within their rights had decided, based upon an aborist's assessment, that the tree needed to come down as it was not in good health.  The news was not well received by the neighbors and others in the community.

In all honesty, if I lived in the house, I would have been terrified of one of the gigantic limbs that hung directly over the house.  That said, there is no arguing that up until the last year or so when trimmings appear to have started, this was an amazingly beautiful tree.  Google Streetview caught an incredible picture of it in a 2013 drivethrough (above) and I snapped one a few weeks ago while I was out on a walk.

Notice how much of the left canopy has been trimmed back even at this point.  I'm not sure of the history but man I hope it wasn't trimmed back to keep it away from the power lines.  To forsake a tree like this for shitty power lines would be a shame.  Also, notice how close this tree is to the street. It's almost IN the street.  Do you think this is dangerous or safe?  I'd highly doubt there has ever been any collision with or around that tree because it's perceived danger is exactly what makes it and that road very safe.

Anyway, over the past several weeks, a great deal of citizens came out to support Old Majestic by signing a petition to save the tree.  That petition was started by Donald McDonnell and has since changed to focus on creating a landmark tree ordinance.  There were 449 supporters who came to the digital side of the tree.  That's a lot of supporters for a tree on a sleepy street in Roswell.  It took us over 9 months to get 600 supporters for the City Green project.  News crews were out to cover it and Mike Pechenek of WSBTV did a segment and had several tweets (@MPetchenikWSB) on the situation.  Here's his piece from today as the tree was being taken down.

The real takeaway here is that the city probably should have a landmark tree ordinance to protect some of our oldest inhabitants and kudos to Donald for pushing it along.  I find it absurd that we have a Historic Preservation Commission that will prevent a business owner from putting up tasteful decor on their facade but when a tree that is older than any building in our city is set to be cut down, there is no one there to ensure it's a good decision.  Assuming an ordinance is protective to our old trees but subordinate to a landowners rights, I believe it could be a good thing.  

Goodbye Old Majestic.. I barely knew ye.

Who Is Speaking for the Trees?

I feel like the Lorax here but I thought the language of HB 501 being voted on tomorrow in our state legislature was interesting enough to share...

To amend Article 1 of Chapter 6 of Title 32 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions regarding the maintenance of public roads, so as to require the Department of Transportation to remove all trees in the public right of way that are capable of falling on an interstate or limited-access highway; to provide for the department to designate the removal of trees by a third party after a competitive bidding process; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Link to Legislation

I could not find anything that told me whether this was:

1. Cost Effective? - How much would cutting every tree that meets this definition cost?  How many are there?  How long would this take?
2. Necessary? - How many crashes, injuries, deaths per year are caused by a tree falling on a road?  I'm sure there are some and don't want to sound insensitive to those people who have lost loved ones to an unfortunate accident of this nature but I'm just not convinced that there isn't lower hanging fruit out there.
3. A Legitimate Safety Concern? - It sounds to me like a way around the Supreme Court case regarding trees covering billboard views.  The last sentence in the bill "All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed." made me think that might be the case.

You can send an email to your legislature through this link if you are opposed to a wholesale cutting of all trees meeting this definition.  Here's the link.

http://protectgeorgia.net/editalert-ckbox.asp?aaid=6990

Update on Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 11:00AM by Michael D Hadden

Update:  This bill died in committee on 3/8.  Lorax 1 - Georgia House 0

http://saportareport.com/blog/2013/03/house-bill-to-cut-trees-along-state-highways-dies-in-committee/

Sign Overload: Parking & Trees & GDOT

I think this one speaks for itself.  I feel bad for those poor trucks that may be looking for their handy Truck Route sign.  You may not notice but there is also a nice big tree behind all that signage.  YES there is a gigantic tree literally inches from the roadway.  On a side note, the reason Roswell could not put big trees along the newly redone Midtown Streetscape on Alpharetta Hwy just north of the historic district is because GDOT standards say trees too close to the road are dangerous...  So, you can have a gigantic tree along hwy 9 here for at least 50 years but you can't put one along hwy 9 two miles up the road?  Also, take notice that the historic wayfinding sign is actually closer to the road than the tree.. You can tell that the sign has been clipped by a passing vehicle.  Safety First GDOT... and let's not forget to remove the redundant brown parking sign.