Thanks Mr O’Farrell 11.12.11

Had a lovely figtail party outside the Art Gallery on Friday. Greeted the Premier with cheers and signs and our lovely former secretary escorted Mr O’Farrell from his car to the front entrance.

We could be forgiven for thinking that Council tried to usher him in the rear – condemned – entrance of the gallery, in order to avoid any members of the community outside the gallery, but what politician would want to avoid a happy, respectable, welcoming crowd?

Here’s a 1 minute video of his arrival.

I’ll wager he didn’t feel at risk under the trees. And Cr Cook has been spreading joy again: he has distributed a document about what he sees as lies about Laman Street spread by campaigners. Here’s Mark Hartley, one of the community’s arborists, on a small part of that ‘litany’:

‘The assertion that it has been proven that the root plates are defective is simply false. Only Marsden has undertaken an examination of the root plates under the road and the only evidence that he could provide was that the roots were not present in hydrophobic soils that were not conducive to root growth and development.

Marsden correctly forms the view that the root plates are not on the surface. The assumption that an asymmetric root plate is defective in itself is false and has been presented without a piece of supporting evidence. I was able to show a tree at Angkor Watt  with significantly greater root plate asymmetry that has stood for hundreds of years.

In addition I can provide over 50 peer-reviewed and published  papers that challenge the assumption that root plate asymmetry is a defect.

See “Anchorage and Asymmetry in the Root System of Pinus peuce” Mickovski, S. Ennos, R. Silva Fennica 37(2);  “Anchorage of Mature conifer: resistive turning moment, root-soil plate geometry and root growth orientation” Lundstrom et el (2007)  Tree Physiology 27, 1217 – 1227; “Adaptive Growth of Tree Root systems in response to wind action and site conditions”  Nicoll, B & Ray, D. (1996) Tree Physiology 16, 891-898 as a start.

Cook refers to SULE but may not be aware that the originator of SULE, Jeremy Barrell, is one of the experts that NCC has disregarded, in spite of the fact that he acted independently of any party and received no remuneration for his assessment.’

I’ve posted this before but you can watch Barrell and his colleague Cashman talking about Laman Street here.

A tree in Tours in France, planted by Napoleon and not chopped down even though it needs support

He also says,

…I find it odd that there are numerous arborists who have come out in support of the retention of the trees because the risk of harm is not unacceptable…Has anyone seen the same support for the removal of the trees because of the risk they supposedly pose coming forward to the council?

The only support council has is from a group on a forum (who have been fed propaganda … with the hope of it causing damage to the SoF group).  Some people on this  believe that the trees should be removed to show the community that council makes decision and not the community. I agree with Cook that SOF does not represent the majority of the community, rather it represents the distinct majority of those who have an opinion either way about the trees. A large portion of the community do not care either way and unfortunately it is their money that NCC is wasting to avoid facing up to the facts “the trees do not pose an imminent risk.”

Home

Thanks to Sharon Healey for the photo of the Premier.

Working Party Meeting no 3 – 2.6.2011

Last night’s Laman Street Working Party meeting went more than an hour over time and took thirty pages of (almost illegible) handwritten notes for me to record so how do I do it justice?

Developers’ care for $100 000 tree 23.4.2011

I apologise that my headline is misleading – I have only the vaguest idea of the value of this Hill’s fig. I do know definitely, however, that it will need a great deal of luck to survive the beige nightmare of a development in the street around it to survive. Heaven knows, no one is taking any active steps to care of it. 

 

Beware Beige

Ravenshaw Street, Newcastle is the site of a development that seems to be bigger than Ben Hur. It required the removal of at least three mature fig trees (see The Shame File)  that were – you guessed it – reaching the end of their useful life span and therefore considered expendable.

TGIF 10.9.2010

Thank someone it’s Friday. The fig trees are still standing and our lawyers keep writing to people about them.

SULE vs TreeAZ 8.9.2010

One councillor has been kind enough to respond to residents’ emails requesting feedback on the independent arborist’s report.

A short version of Mr Marsden’s report on Laman Street

The day when council revisit the issue of the Laman Street Civic Park precinct is fast approaching.

Good News and Bad News

Good neighbours

The good news is that council have allocated places to people who nominated for the charette.