Ingraham Trees Start To Fall

The long-running saga of the neighbors versus the district over the cutting down of trees in a grove nearby Ingraham High School has finally ended. According to the Stranger Slog, some of the trees were felled today. The district had initially wanted to cut down 50+ trees but it's now down to 27 (and they plan on replacing some trees but not with the same variety). From the Slog:

"There were some verbal protests, but that's about all," Redman, who was supervising the work, said. "Weather permitting, we are going to try to finish cutting all the trees today."

"Ingraham is only a precursor to many more trees being lost," Zemke said in an email. "Unfortunately trees have no standing in Seattle and no voice. Neighbors and others who want to keep our city green with trees must be their voice." Save the Trees is currently working with a group of tree advocates called "Save Our Urban Forest Infrastructure" to create stronger protection for trees and urban forests.

It's sad. Not only for the trees lost (because we are cutting down trees in this city at an alarming rate) but because the district didn't try to do the right thing. The right thing would have been to NOT send the district lawyer to meetings with the neighbors. It would have been good to find a mediator (someone neutral) to guide the discussions. I believe a resolution would have been found sooner. I recall a member of the BEX Oversight Committee asking if this had been done and you should have seen how mystified staff looked. Almost like it hadn't occurred to them.

Don't get me wrong. Ingraham needs this new wing. (Actually it would have been nice if they, like most of the other comprehensives, got a new rebuild.) Their math classes were out in these horrible, cold portables. (I hope the district isn't planning on using those again.) Ingraham deserves a nicer building.

I just wish it could have been handled better so it didn't drag out so long. And, the district could have had the upper hand in saying they had truly done everything they could to work with the neighbors.

Comments

Charlie Mas said…
This process was mis-handled at every step. The error, at every step, was hubris. The District acted, unfailingly, with arrogance and belligerence.
1/29/11, 9:03 AM
Anonymous said…
There are actually 30 more trees to be cut down at Ingraham High School, bringing the total to about 57.

10 Madrones in the Northwest grove will be snagged, which means cut to a height of about 20' tall and left as wildlife habitat. Construction of awnings and the sidewalk will bring down about 20 more trees.

The bit about the new plantings 'replacing' the 120' tall mature conifers is empty rhetoric. We need to eliminate the word 'replace' from our vocabulary when it comes to establishing a new ecosystem where the old environment was removed to accomodate development.

More: www.SaveSeattlesTrees.com

Arboreally yours,

Michael Oxman
1/30/11, 8:15 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Read more

MEETING CANCELED - Hey Kids, A Meeting with Three(!) Seattle Schools Board Directors

 Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting.  In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance.  - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Read more