City receives $3.25 check to cover tree planting at world's smallest park
PORTLAND, Ore. – Remember when someone recently stole the tree from the world’s smallest park in Portland?
Someone mailed the city a check for $3.25 to cover the cost of replanting the Douglas Fir Sapling at Mill Ends Park. The sender, whose name was not released, also included a letter with his memories of the small park.
The park sits in a median at Southwest Taylor and Naito Parkway and has been around for decades.
Someone returned the tree after it was stolen, but the city had already planted a new tree at the park.
Portland Parks and Recreation spokesman Mark Ross said the returned tree is being taken care of in their office.
“We will soon find a place to plant it permanently in a larger PP&R park,” Ross said in an email.
All trees in Mill Ends Park are transplanted before they get too big for the tiny park, Ross said.
The park was created by Dick Fagan, a columnist for The Oregon Journal who noticed a hole in the concrete dividing the lanes of Front Avenue and decided to plant some flowers there to spruce it up. He then named the little spot after the column he wrote.
The tree thief is still at large. “We continue to hope justice will be served,” said Ross.
Nature is pretty much the best thing Oregon has going for it. Well worth taking care of it.
@Morticae And this coming from a republican Oh the ironyÂ
@uknow2 @Morticae Lay off the drugs, son.
"A Tree Grows in Portland"
Ah yes, here is the Wiki entry for it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldo_Park
There was (might still be) a cute little park like this in Salem. I wonder if it's still there. Gotta love Google!
This comment has been deleted
@Welfair Chick I was thinking it needed a Barbie Malibu House, complete with the little elevator and car.
I'm pretty sure the contractor who planted it probably billed for a couple of hundred dollars.
@Oregon7812 I was thinking that too. "What about the labor to plant it?"
I have always thought this little park was quirky and kinda weird, a lot like Portland itself.
Nice to see the contribution though. Â
Put up a wrought iron fence around the park to protect it. That should cost about $500. Money well spent to protect the worlds biggest waste of time.
@The Resistance How much time is used on it? Probably not much. Precision of language should be valued.
@The Resistance Portland's maybe.Â
Congress is the Nation's Biggest Waste of Time.Â
The Middle East is the World's Biggest Waste of Time.
This comment has been deleted
@feral @The Resistance I'll do it for $25,000.
Many thank-yous to the concerned citizen! On the other hand, the turd that stole the tree in the first place should still be charged with theft if, or ever, he/she is caught! All's well that ends well, I guess, in the meantime!
@jpk  Hang him from the yardarm and flog him with the dead tree! Yarr!
What's with all the bad attitudes? This is just a happy little story for once. Hardly news-worthy, but at least we live in a city where this is the biggest news we could drum up. Portland has a well-loved (but weird) little park that was vandalized. Some nice citizen volunteered to cover the cost of fixing it. How in the world did this turn into something so cynical and political? Just be glad there are nice people in the world for once. Lord.
$3.25?
Yeah, that might cover the gas the Portland parks & rec truck uses driving to the location. By the time you figure union wages, benefits and the paperwork trail to cover the replanting of the tree.... Probably need to move the decimal at least 2 places to the right.Â
This is just stupid! I can't believe everyone is spending so much time and effort to even discuss this. A Douglas Fir will soon outgrow that tiny space and need to be cut down. Then what? Protests? Tree hugger arrests? Wasted police and court resources? Gimmie a break!
Take it out and put in a Japanese Maple or a Bonsi--then if it's stolen it will at least be worth the effort to deal with it.
But maybe it was ripped out as revenge for cutting down the big redwood--and if so then kudos to the person who did it.
@CopWatcher If you had read the whole story you would know that they transplant the saplings to a different park before they get to big.. they then plant a new.
A developer who has bought off the politicians, can destroy lots of trees if they are in the way of his development and nothing is done about it because the crooked politicians said it was OK. Â So, this one measly tree isn't so important compared to that. Â This is what happens when people's priorities are completely out of whack.
The tree thief is still at large. âWe continue to hope justice will be served,â said Ross.
Seriously? This is a joke right? Justice for a stolen tree....that was returned. With all the rapist, murders, and hate criminals still at large, a tree thief is the least of my concerns.Â
@The_AnnaCannard We're in Portland, killing a tree is almost as bad as murder.
@deejm2112 @The_AnnaCannard Almost?
based on the size and frequency of articles written, I'd say that killing a tree is significantly more important that murdering a human in Portland.Â
unless, of course, they were shot by those killer cops, or someone defending their home.Â
...or, I suppose, if the victim was a member of a legally protected class of people.Â
Then, their murder is of comparable importance to that of a tree.... but it's still close.Â
This comment has been deleted
@TheUglyTruth they can buy a mini picnic table when they get enough donations.
So the park was created by Dick Fagan, a columnist for The Oregon Journal who noticed a hole in the concrete dividing the lanes of Front Avenue and decided to plant some flowers there to spruce it up. Does that mean it is not really an official registered city park? i think i will name my park Pot Hole Park.
@32jim2Â Became a city park in 1976.
that is not a park, it is a planter. Portland just needs to stop being stupid about everything!
This comment has been deleted
@Welfair Chick I was with you until you said all that stuff after "Yeah...".
@Welfair Chick @HenryBowman I always replace 'quit' with 'quilt'. It doesn't mean anything, but it gets me more points in Scrabble...
@Welfair Chick The guy who asked the Geni for a little head as a reward for releasing her from the bottle.Â
Shouldn't that park have a miniature tree instead of a BIG tree. you can't enjoy a park if the tree grows over the sitting area.
Gee, thanks KATU, for showing the signature of the person who mailed the check. So much for concealing the identity, even if it is illegible.Â
@washcomom If it's illegible, how in any way is it useful for identifying the person?
@Oregon7812Â @washcomom Pharmacists can read it.
That's a park? I walk by there every day and never knew.