"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Thursday 10 May 2012

Much Ado

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Plan Is Sound .... in 2013":

I'm not sure how much things have changed but you used to be able to get seedlings for pennies if you were willing to drive and pick them up There was something you signed to say that they were for your own use and wouldn't be sold. You could get a heck of a lot of seedling trees into town trucks. In a way, they have already been paid for by taxpayers to reach that stage.

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Town staff have known about this impending problem for months if not years.The Region put out traps in Aurora  and a bug was  caught.

There are signs of dead trees in wooded areas. That they are Ash is not always plain nor that they are infested. There  are always dead and dying trees in wooded area. 

There's no calamity waiting to hit us over night. The town  has dealt  with Dutch Elm disease  Not all  elms died. But the bug never leaves so we don't plant elm trees.

The point is, the ash  tree die-off  will take its own course. Detailed plans about what's to be done are  neither practical nor feasible. We just have  to be prepared to respond to particular situations.

Planting a nursery of trees that take ten years to mature may not be the whole answer.

Politicians  making a crisis out of nothing  and  trying to look like whiz kids, with  extravagant claims of saving a million dollars if we do this instead of that, is just tiresome.

We have suffered nothing but regret  from the loss of elm trees. We won't suffer much more by the loss of ash trees. It will undoubtedly create work and expense but nothing  that can't be handled. We will not be alone. 

We had  a huge hullabullo about it  on Tuesday night. In the end eight people voted in favour of Option 6. One voted against it. 

The final committed  expenditure was $10,000 out of the Council contingency fund. I'm waiting  to see  the  calculation of how a million dollars will be saved.

How silly was that?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Case Woodlot is nothing except for stressed-out trees. It is perfect for its many uses but certainly not a sign of any bug on the move. The wildflowers, geese, wild-kids with trail bikes and smaller ones building forts love it. Anyone wanting firewood should probably cut a deal with the town to remove some of the deadwood - the annual clean-up is OK, but that extra wood could be used and would free up the trails. If we cannot manage that old giant properly, why should we pretend to know how to raise seedlings?

Anonymous said...

Unless a developer owns the huge chunk of land around the water-tower, you could plant a mob of seedlings in there. It was arable land in the first place. Does the town own it?

Anonymous said...

Question for Councillor Abel as follow-up to Council Meeting if he reads this Blog. When he and his brother found out how hard to was to dig up the dandelions and how little it paid, did they turn up the next morning and get at it? Or did they throw in the towel and quit?
He seems to be conceding a great defeat to a little bug when there really is no battle yet.

Anonymous said...

There you go again talking common sense , when will you ever learn that in order to succeed on Council you need to over react , sensationalize and exaggerate the problem , Emerald Ash Borer is but a blip on the environmental radar screen as was Dutch Elm Disease, Yes it was sad to see land mark trees disappear from the landscape , but did the world stop turning ? Did property values drop? Did the air we breathe turn unbreathable? not on your life. Sure no one likes to see trees die but let’s put it in perspective folks ,trees can be replaced its not the end of the world as we know it , time to get a grip on what truly matters in life and get back to reality

Anonymous said...

Been trying to watch Alison's show for 2 1/2 hours. Got the Hilary House material and a bit on the Market Code of Conduct. This show is sponsored by luminosity which is supposed to help your brain when it shows no evidence of planning?

Anonymous said...

you gotta love 5:25pm obviously can’t see the forest for the trees, had they been around in the 50s and 60 they would have seen that giant old property in a stressed out condition alright, cattle pawing, roaming and stomping at will, not a sapling to be seen. Trees repeatedly tapped by the Batemans , wrecked cars and trucks strewn about and fire pits galore from the rowdy teens newly planted in Aurora , topped off by the dirt bikes , snowmobiles and dune buggies ripping and tearing through the bush , Yes that "Old Giant" has seen better days indeed but to 5:25, its best days are now upon us