The City of Cambridge is going to MURDERIZE A HUNDRED TREES!@!
Linear Park is the shared use path that goes from Davis Square to Alewife, through both Cambridge and Somerville. The City of Cambridge has plans to improve its stretch, and the designs look quite lovely: some seating, more structures for kids, 120 to 150 more trees planted, soil amendment and replacement for current trees, and more.
They're also widening the path where possible, to 14', because the current path is too narrow for the combination of pedestrians and bikes that use it. Shared use paths aren't ideal because bikes and pedestrians go at different speeds, so a wider path reduces conflicts and makes things safer.
Sounds pretty nice, right? Not according to Cambridge4Trees, an alias for the Cambridge Citizens for Liveable Neighborhoods.
The details
Cambridge4Trees has a detailed write-up here which makes a bunch of claims, and doing just a tiny bit of research suggests their statements are very much at odds with the City's description of the project. Here's a subset of their complaints:
Complaint #1: "100+ trees to be removed/maimed."
City's Response: The City explains that they will be removing just 5 (yes, 5) diseased mature trees, and a number of small (<6" diameter) invasive trees and shrubs, like Norway Maple. Norway Maple trees spread lots of seeds and are really bad for natural habitats, so getting rid of them doesn't seem like a problem.
Complaint #2: "The main path now is typically 10.5' wide. The "redesign" with the shoulders varies but is proposed at 18'. There are numerous "side paths" paved with "stone dust" (compacted on a compacted gravel base) proposed."
City's Response: The City's plans indicate the new path will be 12' to 14'. Stone dust is permeable, so it doesn't have the impact that paved surfaces do on drainage.
Complaint #3: "A 4' deep trench running the entire length of the park for a new water line to supply hose spigots for manually watering trees during droughts. Remember that 8 of the past 10 years have had some level of drought."
On the face of it, this complaint makes no sense. Adding a way to water trees is a good thing, they cite the drought themselves!
City's response: The City notes this trench will be dug where the path currently is, i.e. as far away from the trees as possible.
The City has a very detailed write-up of how they will protect existing trees.
My take
I've been to a number of newer parks designed by the City, and they're all really nice. By the high school and library, on Cambridge St, they just put in a new mini-park while keeping existing trees. There's a new stretch of the Grand Junction path that just opened, and going back a bit further Tim Toomey Park... they're all great.
So I tend to have some trust in City staff. When they say they're only removing 5 mature diseased trees... I bet they're just going to remove those trees. Additionally, some people I know who reached out to city staff were told that Cambridge4Trees was working off of old, out-of-date designs.
At the same time, an email Cambridge4Trees sent out today brings up another concern: the cost of the project, as they note that "residential taxes just increased and will increase for the coming years" (bold and underline in original). This may explain why they're upset about digging a trench (again, where the path is, away from trees) to add a watering system for trees. Yes, technically a watering system is good for trees, but what about taxes 🙄
My process for deciding
While I am very skeptical of Cambridge4Trees' claims, I am not an arborist or a landscape designer. I could be wrong!
But at minimum I was able to go and read the City's many detailed plans, note logical holes in arguments, and do a bit more research. For example, it can be useful to search the City's meeting portal to see what a specific person has written to the Council about; it doesn't include all emails, and the search mechanism doesn't find all emails so you may need to use Google, but it can give you some sense of where someone is coming from. In the case of Charles Teague, who runs Cambridge4Trees:
- He has also supported delaying installation of bike lanes until more parking is made available to the public.
- He apparently opposes building denser housing, despite denser housing reducing carbon emissions three completely different ways (I'll be writing about this at some point.)
Both of which give you a sense of the kind of environmentalist he is.
A bit more
- Take action! There's a meeting about this project tonight at 5:30PM, in person at 147 Hampshire St (the DPW building). If you care about this project, you can go and share your support (or opposition, I guess), or at minimum see the City's presentation and hear their answers to the comittee's questions .
- Today's song: A New Squad Attacking Formation, Helen Love (2007)