To the Editor:
To address your quest for knowledge, here are some syllogisms (the term you recall from your logic course. Remember? “If this, then that”). So here goes: If trees suck up carbon dioxide, then more trees means less greenhouse gas.
Here’s more: If rising climate temperatures are not good for life as we know it, then reducing climate temperatures is good. And, if ever increasing quantities of greenhouse gas contribute to rising temperatures, then less greenhouse gas will serve to abate, perhaps reverse this trend. Therefore, if trees diminish greenhouse gas, then they are good. Ergo, more trees are better for me, for thee and for the whole wide world
But this logic doesn’t apply in Alexandria, the Fun Side of the Potomac (or whatever our moniker is nowadays). I bet you didn’t know we have a City Council-sanctioned program underway to remove healthy trees from public spaces. Me neither.
And to add insult to injury, not only are there are no plans to replace them, there are no plans to expeditiously remove them after they are cut down. A few are fairly large too. But like dead soldiers on a contested battlefield, these trees are allowed to lay ignominiously for days felled where they were once stood.
If you drove by the intersection of Telegraph and Duke recently which, based on my guesstimate, is traversed by half of Alexandria daily, you no doubt noticed these fallen greenhouse gas grabbers. Curious me, I called the city arborist.
He said, “I have nothing to do with this tree removal program.” However, in the ensuing conversation, I learned that his boss is in charge of it. Apparently, his boss decided a good use of your tax dollars was to remove trees that do not belong in Alexandria.
“Why,” I asked. They are illegal immigrants I was told. Invasive. They are taking the jobs that should be performed by native trees. “I see,” said I. “When will native trees be planted to replace the ones cut down?” The city arborist said, “There are no plans to replace them; we hope over the years that natives will volunteer to sprout up. “
So, if you ever wondered why your taxes never decrease, then recall this taxpayer funded program that’s removing healthy trees, ones that snare a bit of your car exhaust but are nevertheless undesired.
In the scheme of things, the cost of this program pales in comparison to servicing the hundreds of millions of dollars of debt our city council incurred to construct public palaces, most recently the Jefferson Houston middle school. Together, however, they make clear nothing is too excessive for those who rule the Fun Side of the Potomac.
Jimm Roberts, Alexandria