“We would like to replace your dead street tree with another one of your choice. Please choose from the attached list. Thank you.” That was the extent of the typed-up yellow note stuck on my door the other day from the city’s public works department-maintenance division.
At first, the note surprised me that anyone even noticed—since the cars passing my house would really only be other residents and their visitors—and then after glancing at the list of tree options, I was really amazed.
The list included more than 30 choices, from a king palm to a peppermint tree to a Japanese flowering cherry, and it got me thinking that my city must really be serious about replacing the dead tree and is actually giving me a choice in the matter.
According to the city, its goal and objective is “to plant and maintain the urban forest with trees that will add to the aesthetic value of the community, and to provide mixed-age tree population, adequate species diversity and an appropriate mix of trees in order to provide a diverse forest ecosystem more able to adapt to changing environmental pressures.”
Whew! What a mouthful of verbiage that was! Cities and corporations can never say anything in plain, simple English. However, I forgive the city for its overly wordy explanation. It’s the thought that counts, and it looks like my city is thinking that living trees are better than dead trees.
I started to wonder about my city’s campaign to re-forest the streets, and then my reporter-brain kicked in: Does somebody in city government have a relative who owns a nursery? Is this a scheme by unionized city workers to keep themselves busy by planting trees?
And then, with my reporter brain in full throttle, I realized that the city I live in was named for a tree. The tree in this case is the cypress. According to Wikipedia, that irreproachable source of indisputable information about everything, the City of Cypress was named for the Cypress Elementary School, originally built in 1895. They called it Cypress Elementary School because they planted cypress trees to protect the schoolhouse from the seasonal Santa Ana Winds. If you haven’t lived through Santa Ana Winds, Wikipedia can tell you all about them.
I am wondering if my city’s campaign to plant new trees has anything to do with its history. After all, lots of cities plant trees. Vegetation, in general, is held in high regard these days. Developers build rooftop gardens to make buildings greener. I wonder if the person who posted the typed-up yellow note on my door has any idea that the city that he or she works for was named for a tree. I am going to take another look at the list of 30 trees the city is offering and hope that the one I really want is on the list. I’m hoping I can get a cypress.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
