Seattle Public Schools flunks civics
What does it teach kids to slaughter a grove of mature trees in a city whose urban forest is already in crisis? A city which will need a new generation to help fix serious environmental problems like cleaning up Puget Sound and dealing with cancer-causing pollution?
The Seattle School District is going ahead with the destruction of nearly 70 mature firs, cedars, and other trees for an Ingraham High School expansion. The move is an outrage, and the school district is foolish to act without consideration for the larger picture. We have to reverse development practices that have had such a damaging impact on the city's tree canopy. Get creative. Take it as a given that such groves should live on. Such cutting should be illegal.
The School District can cut the trees without permits. Mayor Greg Nickels has both presided over policies that have permitted too much tree destruction and has also moved to mitigate and reverse the damage caused. In this case, he is rightly unhappy with the district because their actions set back the city's own recovery efforts. They also set a terrible example for the private sector, which is a major culprit in Seattle's deforestation. According to a statement released by his office:
Mayor Greg Nickels is deeply disappointed in the decision by Seattle Public Schools to cut trees at Ingraham High School without further city review or public input. The school district should stay within the regulatory process and act in good faith. We expect good stewardship of our trees from all our residents and from the school district.
The district, of all entities, should recognize the importance of "good stewardship" and citizenship. Someone needs a remedial course in "Civics."
Comments:
Posted Tue, Aug 12, 10:37 a.m. inappropriate
They "have withdrawn [their] pending application for a Master Use Permit (MUP) for the project, as well as the building permit application and grading permit application. So long as these applications are not pending, no city permits are required for removal of these trees…."
They may need remedial Civics, but they're totally up on Gaming the System.
Posted Tue, Aug 12, 12:36 p.m. inappropriate
this is SO seattle: let see ... how many new firs are spawned each year in the nearby foothills ?
the local towel ringing liberals, frustrated that they don't have enough layers of government in this nanny city, peer into every crack of all the commissions, bureaus, ordinances and councils they have foolishly created, with pathetic cries for 'earth justice' .
let see, a fitting outcome is required of this farce.
maybe sps could donate the raw logs to a nearby mill, and the finished timber donated to habitat for humanity ? Channel 4 gives 12 minutes of 6 oclock time to cover the donation. Pretty faced, but empty headed 'reporters' interview grieving ecco feebles at the site of the stumps. Every reporter sentence starts with the word 'now' prompting attending sps reps to divert attention from the drivel by demanding more funding for english classes.
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 9:05 a.m. inappropriate
Irony Alert: I can't believe you let Nickel's comment go by unchallenged!
His DPD has allowed the cutting of Waldo Woods, a larger grove of trees in the Maple Leaf neighborhood. Despite nearly 400 letters, an op-ed piece in the Seattle Times, and numerous personal requests for help from Maple Leaf Community Council leaders he has done NOTHING.
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 11:06 a.m. inappropriate
Tree Math-what the School District should be teaching students about trees.: During its lifetime, one large tree can absorb as much as 11 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)...
While all trees--large or small--take in CO2 during photosynthesie (the process of converting water, CO2 and sunlight into sugar for food), the larger trees hold in more carbon because of their sheer size.
The 66 75-year old evergreens in the Ingraham Forest (Ingraham HS) have absorbed approximately 726 tons of CO2 (66 trees X 11 tons of CO2 =726 tons of CO2). Once trees are logged, the CO2 goes back into the atmosphere.
Seattle Urban Forest Stakeholders (SUFS) counts trees by aggregate years. If we count the trees in the Ingraham Forest (Ingraham HS) using this method the 66 75-year old evergreens = 4950 aggregate years.
Take out one large mature tree and you have added to global warming; you cannot replace a mature tree with 2 samplings and call it a gain to the urban forest. The Mayor needs learn tree math too.
Information on greenhouse gases is from David Nowak, a forestry reseracher with the US Forest Services and publiched in TreeLink.
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 12:49 p.m. inappropriate
08.13.2008, 11:46 a.m. Breaking News - Press Advisory: 08.13.2008, 11:46 a.m.
Breaking News - Press Advisory
The Seattle School District has just informed Keith Scully, the attorney for Save the Trees, that they will not halt their decision to cut down the trees at Ingraham High School while the environmental issues are being reviewed by the King County Superior Court.
Keith Scully will be filing a request for a temporary restraining order before the King County Superior Court at 516 Third Ave in Seattle before the Ex Parte division.at 11:30 AM
You can check at the front desk for the location of the hearing
The Seattle School Board obviously decided last night in their special executive session to ignore the unresolved legal issues and also the position of Mayor Nickels, the Seattle City Council, many Seattle citizens and neighbors opposing cutting down the trees at Ingraham. The School District is opposing letting this issue be resolved on its merits through a court of law and have decided instead to use the chain saw to just get their way!
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 1:01 p.m. inappropriate
Tree Math Needs some work: The carbon from a logged tree is only "released" if the tree is burned. If the wood is, say, turned into furniture, or lumber, or siding for a house, that carbon is captured for quite some time. In addition, a mature tree, which no longer grows fast, isn't capturing much carbon at all. By contrast, a 10-20 year old growing tree is going to capture a great deal. The simple equation of the earlier poster is, well, simplistic. Carbon capture is complex. Maybe an actual scientist can post and sort it out for us?
My other concern is directed at you, Knute. I know that in this coloumn you don't function as a journalist, but instead as a provacateur. Still, a little research would have uncovered the fact that these concerns have been raised since the start of the process, have been heard, and have been addressed, though not in exactly the way that the neighbros wanted their concerns addressed. (To wit, by getting exactly what they wanted -- a private grove for their own use.) New trees will be planted for each tree that is cut -- in locations that allow the School District to maximize the educational use of the site. Personally, I think that maximizing the educational use of school district property is a very good thing. Better than maximizing its appeal to its neighbors.
Having tried various ways to press their cause throughout the design process, the neighbors are now trying litigation. That's fine, the courts are open to all. But it's not a cause celebre. It's folks who aren't getting their way, and who want to force an underfunded school district to make their aesthetic needs more important than the needs of maximizing the educational needs of a group of students, by providing them with a modernized campus. Knute, check it out. The current campus is, I believe, older than you are. Would you send your kids there in its current state?
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 1:40 p.m. inappropriate
How to Value Trees and Hug Them Too: Trees have Value, They grow on Valuable land. Trees sometimes obstruct Valuable Views. Trees fix carbon, so help to fix global warming and help to preserve a Valuable planet. Sometime trees are burned to create Valuable heat and Valuable energy, thus adding to global warming. The can be harvested and turned into Valuable lumber and used to build Valuable homes.
Trees are Valued by tree climbers for climbing, particularly maples, my favorite.
Trees can fall down and kill Valuable people and destory not-so-Valuable property too.
Trees are a form of life and should be Valued for simply living.
Trees are often turned into Valuable paper that is used for Valuable books, Valuable magazines and Valuable newspapers read by Valuable readers, Valuable students, and Valuable media consumers.
(To make paper, you first turn trees into pulp, which is then made into paper, sometimes to print Valuable fiction. Pulp Fiction is a Valuable movie property not made from trees. Newspapers, on the other hand, are media properties of declining Value made from pulp, on which news is printed, some of which is Valuable fiction.)
Paper is also used to print Valuable money, which, if I remember rightly, is the socially created power to command Valuable resources. Some people think that money is Valuable for comparing and weighting different types of goods, so that we can make rational decisions about allocating scarce goods and accommodating conflicting Values.
Other people think that trees occupy a Critical Area that is Valuable to society and should be regulated by our Valuable government. (Questions: What price would you put on our Valuable government anyway? Is our government as Valuable as all the trees it governs? Is the Wisdom of Trees more Valuable than the Wisdom of Crowds or the Wisdom of Government? Are trees part of our Valuable infrastructure? Should tree houses be taxed? In which order would you vote for Obama, McCain, and your favorite, most Valuable tree?)
So if you ask me if trees are Valuable, I say yes. If you ask me whether we should cut down some trees in the city, I say that Seattle used to be a Valuable forest of trees, but it is now full of people and buildings and high rises. If we want trees in such a city--a city built of concrete, steel, and glass--then we should spend our Valuable money to pay to keep them or to pay to plant more of them. Valuable, in this light, might be understanding how Valuable--in dollars--a tree of fixed carbon is worth to the world.
The most Valuable Question: Are we willing to pay for the Valuable space so that we can have more Valuable trees? Our regional housing policy says no. Instead, it rewards building enormous homes with enormous carbon and energy footprints that, if emulated by the Valuable Chinese, will assure a Global Affluence Catastrophe that will make 9/11 look like ants at a Sunday picnic and make global warming look like a summer breeze. That might be a Valuable insight, or simply alarmist thinking, but someone should speak up for the Trees. If you Value something, give it a Valuable Voice and a Valuable Vote. If trees over the age of 21 were allowed to vote, many of our tree problems and human problems would be solved.
Posted Wed, Aug 13, 1:57 p.m. inappropriate
Want to help save trees at Ingraham High?: Want to help save trees at Ingraham High? You can contribute to help pay for Save The Trees! legal expenses
If you've ever found yourself challenging a project, you probably know that to increase your odds of success and help you work through a complex series of processes and rules - it's wise to get legal counsel.
And being no dummies up by Ingraham High, the neighbors are requesting contributions to help them in the efforts to save around 70 of our trees. However, if you've ever solicited legal counsel you know that it isn't always done on a pro-bono basis.
That's why the Save The Trees! team is asking for contributions to help pay for these legal expenses - and according to their spokesperson.
Send a contribution made out to Save the Trees! to help pay legal expenses. Initial costs are several thousand dollars. More costs are anticipated if the School District digs in further. Send as generous a check as you can to "Save the Trees!" c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133 206-366-0811
You may not have much to donate - but receiving contributions (even the smallest) from supporters can be a big morale booster for the neighborhood.
(Excerpted from http://smarterneighbors.com/2008/08/11/...)
Posted Fri, Aug 15, 12:10 p.m. inappropriate
Trees Aren't Really the Issue: I don't believe the real issue is the trees. It's the heavy-handed, tone-deaf actions of the school district. The district preaches "community engagement" but does little to follow through. We have seen this time after time and you would have thought, after the Denny-Sealth fiasco which Board members even admitted was handled poorly, that they would have learned their lesson. Apparently not.
They refuse to just do the right thing which would then entitle them to cut the trees. One, make public when hearings/meetings are about these issues to the school community and the neighborhoods as well as the public. Two, give clear explanations for the choices they make, not one simple declarative sentence (which ends up being "our way or the highway"). Three, acknowledge that the public owns the land and the public has a right to be included in decisions.
These attitudes and actions are going to have long-ranging effects (and not just this single incidence). They have now made the Mayor mad. He previously had stated that he wanted an appointive Board (along with Senator Ed Murray). These kinds of actions may rekindle that thinking (along with ending his honeymoon period with our new superintendent).
The district has alienated parents and voters all over the city. After San Francisco, Seattle has the smallest kid population of a major American city. We depend on the loyalty of our friends and neighbors who DON'T have kids to vote in our levies and bonds. The next levy measure is for the BTA which is our workhorse maintenance levy (roofs, HVAC, etc.). It's not quite as serious as the operating levy or capital levy but we would be in trouble if it doesn't pass. But voters may say, well, voting against this one will get their attention.
Lastly, the capital program is going to be audited by the State Auditor's office. Brian Sontag strikes me as a sober kind of guy who doesn't waste taxpayer money on wild-goose chases. I predict an audit outcome similar to the Port Commission.
The district doesn't need this kind of headache and the Superintendent and Board need to rein in the Facililites department.
Posted Sun, Aug 17, 3:33 p.m. inappropriate
RE: How to Value Trees and Hug Them Too: I'd love to vote for a tree, if one would only run.