What street trees tell us & why we should care

Done right, street trees calm traffic: A driver sees a pretty row on a main street, it's a cue to slow down.

Trees should improve walkability, property values, etc.

But w/o maintenance, that promise is worse than failure. /1

Street trees are often planted with $$ from philanthropy, non-profits, and cities.

But many places rely on neighborhood volunteers for maintenance.

Maintenance maintenence maintenance. Oh that pesky word. That word is everything.

cc: @MaintenanceFest

2/

In neighborhoods like mine where community leaders come and go & other problems take precedence, it becomes impossible to keep up, even for the most dedicated individuals.

This lack of attn doesn't happen instantly either (like one planting season), it's over time. 3/

Not only does ongoing mulching, pruning, weeding, watering, re-planting become burdensome...

There is a lack of education for residents/biz owners, like when the trees need watering, or why pits shouldn't be salted during the winter so trees don't shrivel and die. 4/

The street tree situation degrades into a broke-down shitshow: dead, broken, muddy/weed/litter pits everywhere.

This transformation of something that was supposed to be nice but is now dead... becomes the visual representation for neighborhood improvement & decline. 5/

Design cues are everything.

Everyone gets the message from what they see.

These living, delicate, but strong trees ... are now dead, forgotten, weak, and neglected.

It's not a metaphor. It's real time information. 6/

In the modern American city blighted street trees show how neighborhood improvement efforts are going - or not. They show gentrification. They show how much time residents have to prune trees or work for food. They show how much $ & attn govt, non-profits, etc give the hood. 7/

Our main streets are our living room.

Thus, if what we live in.... If what we drive past and walk past every day is dying and dead, it means that no one in charge cares about our neighborhood or us.

It follows that no one is in charge. 8/

When our main street is neglected, walkability is downgraded,
and the neighborhood is forgotten, it's a clear sign for everyone to do whatever the f*** they want.

Drivers, dirt bikers, aggro residents...

Do whatever, it don't matter, no one cares.

Blight = no rules.

9/

As a person who loves her neighborhood and used every tool (!!) to improve it, I now cannot walk down the street without dozens and dozens of signposts of what has gone so gravely, gravely wrong. Of what I spent a decade of my life vainly fighting against. 10/

You can read more from a tree than the age within its rings. You can read the health of a neighborhood as a whole...

Because when no one in charge cares, there is no "our." There is only neglect, which speaks for us all.

/end