A picture may be worth a thousand words, but I don’t think our dear city council members would like the words my tree would say. Remember the Save the Trees movement? The Lorax reincarnated as my powerful neighbor panicked at the thought of losing the trees closest to the road. The alternative was narrowing the street and “saving” the trees.

People, you know I’m as green as green can be. I know the benefits of trees from both the aesthetic and scientific perspectives. I see my rain barrels as half full, not half empty. I make my own compost, for heaven’s sake! In addition:

• I recognize that trees have a finite lifespan.
• I know from my own classes and research that trees close to a street or (gulp) in a median strip live a severely shortened lifetime.
• I know, and I told the Council, that the road work itself will damage the tree roots beyond repair. “Saving” is all rhetorical here. Hypothetical? Figurative? It’s sure not literal.

Off soapbox now. I’ll share the photo evidence with all who wish to see it. I must warn you; it’s not pretty. Do not let any baby trees see this.

This is what saving looks like?

a little closer, perhaps

Completely disconnected from the root syste

Guess what: that’s not sidewalk art by the neighborhood kids.

Sidewalks get repaired later this week.