EDITORIALS

What happened here?

Of all the strange ideas from government . . .

“We’re the ones who can kill, kill, baby, things we don’t eat.”

-Don Henley SO MUCH for going to the scene to get a little color for an article in the newspaper. It’s hard to get color when they’ve cut down the trees.

Of all the head-scratching things. Of all the confounding things. Of all the disturbing things.

The oak trees in the first two blocks of Main Street in downtown Little Rock were reduced to stumps Saturday. Cut down in the name of Progress. Our considered editorial opinion on the matter: Stop!

Imagine picking up the paper Sunday morning to see that a dozen or so oak trees were cut down “as part of a project to improve water runoff in the downtown corridor.” According to the report in Arkansas’ Newspaper, more oaks are on the chopping block, up through the 500 block of Main. They are to be replaced, it’s said, by plants that are better at filtrating water.

You see, when it rains, street water goes into the drainage openings that send the water, eventually, to the Gulf of Mexico. The new-ahem, cough, sputter-“green” plan will allow new plants to soak up more water and filter it better. This sounds like a bad joke. Saturday’s work was to be just the beginning for this months-long $1.6 million project, financed in part by a $900,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Yes, the EPA!

For that, Long-suffering Taxpayer, we not only add another $900,000 to the $17 trillion national debt, but as a bonus also lose the oaks trees on Main Street in downtown Little Rock.

The trees were cut down at about waist level. A couple at knee level. You can still see a green “X” on the stump of one tree marked for death. These are trees that were planted some 30 years ago! The corner of Main and Second is now adorned with all the beauty parking meters provide. Parking meters and traffic lights.

Oh, no. Across the street are two beautiful magnolias. Do you suppose they’re next? If it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird in the South, surely you can’t cut down a live magnolia tree. Or do magnolia roots do a better job at filtering water than oak roots?

What street(s) would be next? Oak trees grow all around downtown Little Rock. Providing not only beauty, but acorns for the squirrels and nesting places for the birds. Not to mention shade for the rest of us during a soon-to-come Arkansas summer. Which trees will be spray-painted with that green “X” next? Trees along Capitol Avenue? What about Sixth? And why not?Or does somebody believe the rain that falls on the 100 block of Main needs to be filtered for its journey to New Orleans and the rain on Capitol does not?

Philip K. Howard wrote a book called The Death of Common Sense. This sure seems to qualify.

Word has it that Mayor Mark Stodola put a halt to this “progress” Saturday until he can talk it over with property owners along Main Street. Yes, no doubt there will be many questions for the mayor when businesses open this morning in downtown Little Rock.

Hopefully the city will leave the other oak trees. Parking meters don’t provide much shade.

Editorial, Pages 10 on 03/31/2014

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