Reading the February 20 issue of the Bainbridge Review we don't learn what firm was responsible for this job. A manager for Diamond Parking does not provide any specific information nor apologize for anything wrong. The City acquiesces by saying nothing inherently wrong (illegal) was done and we get the usual argument about private property. Diamond Parking is a big corporation, they claim to be the biggest private parking company in the world (and I bet they are). It is not clear that they were in charge of this "pruning" as they could only be in charge of operating the parking while the property is owned by somebody else. This somebody else could be an entity called Winslow Marine LLC but the property tax map does not provide any clue about who they are, but for the address of an accounting firm in Bellevue. I think the people deemed "responsible" should publicly say so and offer a compensation to our community or explain to us why all is well. What type of compensation? They could plant more/new trees in this parking lot and/or provide money for trees to be planted. They should come up with internal guidelines to avoid such bad practices in the future.
As for the city and the tree ordinance: it is pathetic to read that -once again- a consultant has been hired (or will be hired) to do a job that has -supposedly- been on the works for years.
You know my refrain: let us have the planning department tell us how many trees have been lost during the last 5/10 years in downtown Winslow and how the city has NOT been providing the pocket parks that were supposed to be created. While the Mayor wants to cut even more trees...
Plenty of cities have tree ordinances and "tree commissions" that really work (Poulsbo for instance).
This is another sad example of how City Hall has been malfunctioning for years with tree advocates lamenting/protesting after each disaster but obtaining NOTHING.
It is also a sad example of the advocates being unable to sufficiently get organized to be recognized as a local force.
When I last checked there were about 400 members of the Sierra Club on Bainbridge and probably more of the Audubon Society: my guess is that if there was a local group of the Sierra Club operating on Bainbridge a lot of tree cutters would be more careful. I can take my share of the blame for having failed to organize such a local chapter.
The trees have certainly been paying a stiff price.
