Monday, August 30, 2004

New trees and paving for Springfield Ave

Lord Mayor Clover Moore this afternoon held a street meeting with around 30 locals plus several councillors and staff to discuss the future of the avenue. Concern about the removal of the mature plane trees in the street was met with a detailed report and diagrams showing that the trees were suffering advanced decay and their removal was a matter of public safety. They will be replaced with advanced trees of a similar nature.

Complaints about the 'upgrade/downgrade' from paving to asphalt [see story below] are being addressed. Ms Moore had asked staff to extend the grey/green granite paving now seen on the main street. However a terracotta option existed and several residents including a young schoolgirl asked for a warmer colour to match the deco period brick buildings prevalent in the area. General Manager Robert Domm claimed the community had voted for the granite but yours truly reminded the meeting that the community had in fact voted against it in a scrutineered ballot run last year by local heritage advocate Andrew Woodhouse.

Staff said there were no plans to take out the brick landscaping at the end of the avenue.

Public art for Springfield Plaza was suggested. While the current plans for the Plaza, soon to go on display, do not include any art the placement of trees had been altered to allow for this in future. Ms Moore said this was only a beginning and the matter of artworks could be addressed in future.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do not ever believe the report about decay and public safety.

Remember Bayswater Rd advanced tree. It was so decayed that it took hours with heavy industrial machinery to remove the trunk. And the cut branches were fine and healthy.

How come they do not perform an autopsy when they are chopped down to see if the diagnosis is correct?

There was no arbourer on hand when the Bayswater massacre took place. The cutting down of trees is a rort. How much do the arbourer receive for the health report and for cutting and replanting? Call in ICAC!

Anonymous said...

From August 31 Sydney Morning Herald:-

"There was one minister, two new trees and 16 schoolchildren, but no Lord Mayor, at yesterday's tree planting in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens.

The NSW Environment Minister, Bob Debus, did not invite Clover Moore to his Battle of the Fig Trees victory celebration, but that probably was not surprising.

Cr Moore was the chief protagonist in the protracted fight to stop the felling of what the botanic gardens said were diseased trees, to create a bold western entrance with an arbour boulevard along Hospital Road."

The Editor said...

Re Comment 1 -- the arbourists reports were very convincing -- Clover made clear her hatred of chopping down trees and provided the report to show she had no choice. It appears to be a genuine public safety issue -- and a big one did blow down last year in the big windstorm.

Re Comment 2 -- yes, the Tele reported that the Botanic Gardens Trust got (I think) $58,000 from the RTA to let them remove the old figs from the Cahill Expressway and that paid for the removal of all the hospital road trees. The Tele quoted a Trust report which showed Figs made up 68% of the trees in the Domain but were responsible for only 17% of limb drops, so the whole safety argument, repeated endlessy by Bob Carr, was a lie. It's all about uniform species in straight lines, and the critics were right -- it WAS about money.

Trust indeed!