When did Alexandria officials first learn of West End deforestation?
There’s a rumor going around that Alexandria officials were alerted to the fact that Morgan properties was beginning to cut down a large number of mature tree in the in the former Winkler properties as early as late October 2017. Despite the warning, the city took no action to stop the cutting and didn’t acknowledge what the public already knew about this deforestation until early December.
A recent FOIA request asked the city to provide any correspondence on this issue dating from Oct. 1 through Nov. 25, 2017. The City Attorney’s office said they could find no such correspondence. In effect, it appears that the city is trying to cover up the fact that senior staff knew about the tree massacre early on and are hiding that fact from the public.
This may not be Watergate but it stinks if true and suggests that city officials have covered up when they first learned about this carnage and then did little or nothing to prevent the loss of some 500 trees in the West End.
Andrew Macdonald
Alexandria