Baltmore's air may be less polluted than it used to be years ago, but it still ranks as the smoggiest in the East, according to a report today by Environment Maryland .
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Hi Baltimore Spokes folks
Another petition, to make sure we get our trees back. Please read:
Of all the agencies who I would think would have control over this issue, State Highways is the last one that would come to mind. SHA says "Safety concerns" farmer says in the 10 years of operating there hasn't been a single accident. Of course SHA knows all about safety having in those same 10 years brought Maryland pedestrian fatality rate from near average to be a contender for the highest fatality rate in the nation. [/sarcasm]
"The race has turned the downtown into what feels like a prison, with tall steel walls and concrete barriers everywhere. And without trees for shade and for beauty the city feels more oppresive. The beautiful downotwn, the gem of the city, is being turned into a racetrack. City planner Jane Jacobs pointed out that human scale cities work best, this is going in the opposite direction."
From Sustainable Stormwater Management
Last week we were involved in a pavement removal project at a school in Hampden to help out Blue Water Baltimore. Post on that coming soon.
Now they have the opportunity to win money to do it more:
Blue Water Baltimore’s campaign to de-pave our city school grounds has been selected as a finalist in Tom’s of Maine 50 States for Good competition. If they win, they get $50k! Five runners up get $20k each. It would be would greatly appreciated if you could vote for BWB every day from now until Sept. 13 at www.50statesforgood.com.
Even better, please help BWB go viral by sending this out to any and all business associates, friends, family and by posting on Facebook, Twitter, etc.This could mean big press for Baltimore greening efforts, and a lot more projects that will dramatically reduce stormwater runoff and transform parking lots into vibrant outdoor classrooms.
By by Tim Wheeler - Baltimore Sun
city official is defending allowing the Baltimore Grand Prix to cut down trees along the Inner Harbor race course, saying organizers have agreed to replace those trees nearly four times over, more than tripling the downtown's tree canopy in the process.
Beth Strommen, director of Baltimore's Office of Sustainability says she negotiated a deal with organizers of the Labor Day weekend street race, in which they got to cut down fewer than half the trees they originally wanted to remove to improve spectators' views of the racing.
Only 50 trees are to be cut down along the race course on West Pratt and Light streets, said Strommen - not the 136 that Lonnie Fisher, assistant Grand Prix general manager had told The Baltimore Sun on Monday. Strommen, who spoke by telephone while vacationing in New Jersey, said she could not explain the discrepancy, but said she had confirmed the city's agreement with the race by phone Tuesday.
News of the tree cutting has upset some residents, who contend that it violates the city's forest conservation code (Article 7, Natural Resources) and is at odds with the city's sustainability plan, which calls for doubling Baltimore's tree canopy by 2037.
Critics have begun circulating an online petition calling for a halt to any more race-related tree cutting until the plan is fully aired and each tree to be removed identified, as required by city code. Petition drafter Dave Troy contended in an email that the plan for cutting and replacing trees because of the race was "haphazard" and "shoved down the throat of the public without due process."
Strommen said the deal she'd negotiated with race organizers hasn't been announced yet because it has yet to be finalized, reviewed by city lawyers and signed. But it calls for planting 59 replacement trees in the race corridor, she said, and another 135 trees are to be planted in already empty sidewalk "pits" for trees elsewhere in downtown.
Strommen said she has been hashing out tree removal and replacement with race organizers for months and had expected to unveil the plan next week when she returned to Baltimore from vacation.
Baltimore Grand Prix managers could not be reached yesterday evening to confirm the terms of the deal Strommen described.
Strommen said the city agreed to allow the removal of some trees that would block views of the street action from temporary grandstands to be erected along the race course. But she said the city exacted a price in additional trees to be planted elsewhere.
"They had their needs to sell tickets," she said. "We had our needs to preserve the beauty of downtown and make Pratt Street continue to be a main street in a great downtown area."
Strommen acknowledged that some of the trees cut bordering the federal courthouse were "big and healthy," as critics have complained. But she said others, particularly those near the convention center, were in decline because they did not have adequate space to grow and their roots were constantly trampled by pedestrians.
The trees to be replanted along the race course will be relocated, Strommen said, to spots where they won't be in the way of spectators in future years, as the city has a deal to host the Grand Prix for up to five years. And 14 of them around the courthouse will be planted in specially designed, oversized planters, she said, to test the viability of having movable trees.
Beyond replacing the trees cut along the race course, Strommen said she got race organizers to agree to plant 135 additional trees in every empty spot in the sidewalk downtown where a tree used to be or was intended to grow. Some details, such as the mix of trees to be planted, have yet to be nailed down, she said, but all the trees are to be planted this fall or within the next year, more than tripling the number of trees downtown.
"I'm feeling pretty good about getting every tree pit downtown filled, myself" said Strommen.
UPDATE: City: Grand Prix to plant many more trees than it cuts
Everyone agrees on the benefits of trees – including the Baltimore Grand Prix race organizers (link). However, they seek to remove 136 or more healthy, mature trees and replace them with 139 "new" trees, a significant percentage of which will be in planters (for transportability for future races.)
Race organizers say that the trees need to come down in order to "improve sight lines" for race specators – presumably allowing greater attendance, and higher ticket prices.
"New" trees (which may have a 2" caliper diameter) do not provide anywhere near the benefits that a mature tree can. Furthermore, the aesthetic quality of trees in planters is significantly lower than a mature established tree.
We believe that sacrificing established trees to increase profits for race organizers is unfair and should have been more open to public discussion and, if executed at all, done in compliance with the law.
When the subject of trees first came up last fall, race organizers used mild-mannered words like "uproot and replant," to describe their plans, but it seems that the plan all along was to clearcut. We seek to halt any new cutting, determine a new plan, and hold the Mayor and race organizers accountable to protecting our city's trees, a valuable and fundamentally irreplaceable public asset.
We assert that the removal of multiple trees on August 1 (several of which were over 40 years old and 3 feet in circumference at the base) was in violation of Article 7 of the Code of the City of Baltimore, which lists explicit protections for trees, and we will seek an immediate injunction to halt the further removal of trees until such time as a new plan can be vetted before the public, experts in the field, and the broader business community.
For more information, read this coverage from the Baltimore Sun, August 1.
Halt the clear-cutting of trees in Baltimore City for the Grand Prix race
Greetings,
I just signed the following petition addressed to: Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
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Halt the clear-cutting of trees in Baltimore City for the Grand Prix race
Everyone agrees on the benefits of trees – including the Baltimore Grand Prix race organizers. However, they seek to remove 136 or more healthy, mature trees and replace them with 139 "new" trees, some percentage of which will be in planters.
"New" trees (which may have a 2" caliper diameter" do not provide anywhere near the benefits that a mature tree can. Furthermore, the aesthetic quality of trees in planters is significantly lower than a mature established tree.
The race organizers originally used words like "uproot and replant," but it seems now the plan is to clearcut. We seek an injunction to determine a new plan and hold the race organizers accountable to protecting our city's trees, a valuable and fundamentally irreplaceable public asset.
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Sincerely,
[Your name]
Just one of the many reasons why the Grand Prix and cars in general are "good" for Baltimore. :/
Saturday, August 27, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute parking lot located at Falls Road and Cold Spring Lane. Residents should use the Cold Spring Lane entrance.