Neighbors in N. Portland rally to save large tree from the ax
PORTLAND, Ore. - A giant sequoia in North Portland has become the focal point of a bitter controversy.
The tree sits inside Pier Park, just across some railroad tracks from Chimney Park and crews want to build a pedestrian and bike bridge connecting the two parks.
The bridge would be part of the ten-mile North Portland greenway. Right now, Union Pacific Railroad tracks separate the two parks and the bridge would go over those tracks. But construction plans call for one giant sequoia inside Pier Park to fall in the process.
It is a tough pill to swallow for Dennis Keepes. He has sounded the alarm bells, trying to build enough support to save the tree.
He estimates the tree is about 18 feet in diameter, 120 feet tall, and about 80 to 100 years old.
He and other concerned neighbors plan to meet Tuesday night to discuss the options. He's optimistic, but city leaders say this has been approved for some time now.
"This (the tree) is gonna be our argument tonight," said Keepes. It's gonna be right from (the heart), man. Everybody's on our side. I think we're gonna win. I think we can save this tree."
"We sympathize with people who want to save the tree," said Mark Ross, spokesman for Portland Parks and Recreation. "We don't want to knock down a tree, but it's in balance with everything else the best possible solution."
The tree is supposed to come down sometime this week and city leaders on Tuesday indicated there really wasn't a chance that opponents could stop that from going forward.
"We don't just go around cutting trees down willy-nilly," Ross said. "This is a very carefully considered project."
The city is quick to point out that what it plans to do to mitigate the loss of this tree. It will plant additional giant sequoias in the same area and the tree itself will be recycled and turned into different features at a nature play area in Westmoreland Park.
The rest of the trees in the grove of sequoias won't be affected. But that doesn't matter to Keepes.
"We're advocating for the sequoia. Sequoia are not just any tree," he said. "You've gotta come and feel it. I mean, the trees themselves are very persuasive."
Contractors looked over the site Tuesday to decide how to bring the tree down.
18 feet in diameter?!?? Really, KATU? Are you sure you didn't mean 18 feet in circumference (and about 6 feet diameter)?
Did you vote for these clowns? If you did, you can share the blame for the trees being cut. Like you bicycle friendly politicians? This is what you get.Â
so ... why is it that in a human life/death dilemma, children are the first to be saved because they haven't had a chance to live, etc etc... so with regards to trees, why do we scream to save the old tree rather than plant new young ones and give them a chance to live?? just asking...
It's a freakin' tree. The city isn't talking about clear cutting forest park, they need to remove A tree in order to allow for a pedestrian/bike link between two parks.Â
*facepalm*
...and people act surprised when government projects so often go over budget.Â
@MarkKpicSo, let me get this straight. "Hundreds of roads are in poor condition" because "city officials have spent only a fraction of the cost on road maintenance that they should have for more than a decade"
Meanwhile, Portland--which has the largest urban forest in America--wants to spend money creating a green space by cutting down a beloved tree so they can build another bridge and pave another bike path THROUGH it, and, also, to make sure it stays "green" they're also going to plant and manage seven "giant" sequioas on the other side of the tracks, for Portlanders to enjoy in 80-100 years.
JUST what we need.  Better idea: CANCEL THE WHOLE FREAKIN' THING AND FILL SOME POTHOLES!!!!
I guess we should put together a committee so we could study the impact it would have.
@oodathunked Well of course. But first, we'll have to put together a study group to assemble the committee, so as to ensure that all groups are represented....
Of course, we'll also have to do an environmental impact study on the design... there should probably be a committee for that too.Â
Then, we'll need the ubiquitous oversight committee composed of state, county and municipal leaders to take public input.Â
They should be breaking ground on the bridge somewhere around 2018, to the tune of around 12million or so.Â
@Playanekes @MarkKpic I, personally, find no fault in your assessment. Especially given the fact that any redisign in order to 'save' this tree will undoubtedly add a million or two to the price tag.Â
Unfortunately, Portland is just another bohemoth municipality who needs to find projects in order to justify personell and department expenses.Â
Gotta have something to explain the 'essential' 5% increase in the parks dept budget, don't we?
The only reason the tree is planned to be chopped is because city leaders don't want to spend the extra money to go around it. It would be a wonderful and architecturally beautiful bypass that everyone could enjoy riding and walking around this majestic tree. But Portland city govt has proven time and again how stubborn and retarded they are. Once they get an idea, they are like blood hounds on a coon, or Obama against guns, they just won't budge. But hey, you elected them!
@None Or like republiCONs  not wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy. Just thought I would add another example !
@sargerator @None They don't want to raise taxes on the wealthy just so those taxes can be spent on the poor, the Chinese, the politicians, the union bosses and for things like cutting down trees to pave a path through a "green" space while Portland's roads and infrastructure are turning into a total abortion.Â
Thanks for reminding me.
@None >'The only reason the tree is planned to be chopped is because city leaders don't want to spend the extra money to go around it'
Extra money?Â
Oooooh, the 'extra' money that the city has laying around for just such occasions. We'll just tap into that 'extra' money.
Mr Keepes needs to get himself a bike and join the rest of the city.
@2012 Hope and Change Pave it all! The taxpayers can afford it.
what is Portland's obcession with cutting down trees?? Who cares if the bikers need a place to ride? GO AROUND IT!! They've destroyed all the trees along McLlophlin for that stupid train!! LEAVE THE TREE ALONE!! The tree is alot prettier than any greenway/bike path!!!
Cutting down a tree for a "greenway".Â
Does this qualify as ironic?
And the bikers wonder why we despise them so....gees...
This is a problem where a manager has made a decision (and most likely a "setter" and not a "pointer")  and through their own arrogance and stupidity can't back down. Wouldn't be surprised if they win the arguement and change the bridge design AND the manager gets promoted !!!
@sargerator You forgot that the redesign its self will cost the taxpayers of Portland an additional $250,000, and the completed redesign will add a million or so to the construction costs.Â
@MarkKpic @sargerator CANCEL THE WHOLE THING AND LET THEM GO TO FOREST PARK. WE NEED TO FIX OUR BRIDGES AND ROADS!!!
@Playanekes  A little louder please. I don't think they heard you ;-)  Aw, forget it, they wouldn't listen anyhow.
figured it out, thats mark ross, ex fauxe nooze guy, now the government is hiring goofballs from fauxe nooze to make decisions. Fauxe nooze motto..."failure is an option" !!
@sargerator The word is "Faux" you idiot. Don't overstep your intellect by using expressions you don't understand.
@Playanekes It's as spelled Fauxe nooze...dimwit ! Now go back to studying your rent-a-cop manual !
Walk around and ride around the tree. It is called exercise . You go to the park to enjoy nature not bike paths.
"We don't want to knock down a tree, but it's in balance with everything else the best possible solution." So, how hard would it be just to walk/ride around it? Seems to me that this option would be a win win situation instead of the 'best possible solution.'
Something tells me that this was the idea of our former mayor. DON'T LET SAM ADAMS RUIN THIS CITY! He already did enough damage when he was in office!
"city leaders said there really  no chance that their plans will not proceed."  No wonder they are going after guns.  Because they are worried about a taxpayer may wake up one day with same attitude.
Is there money on that tree? Because last time I looked, money doesn't grow on trees. How much is this going to cost? Why not fill in a few potholes instead??
@washcomom It would be interesting to know how much the lumber from that tree would bring to the city. Maybe that's their so-called "thinking."
They won't sell the lumber from that tree. They will build a memorial to it, using the wood. All after the obligatory candlelight ceremony!
@Old29 @washcomom I wonder every time I drive by the west side of sell wood bridge. Why did they need to clear that hillside?
Hilarious. The city would never approve a permit to remove a tree like that on private property... The fact that you NEED a permit in this city to do so is ludicrous.
Either way, they need to be held to the same standards they subject everyone else to.
Gee, taxpayers. Would we rather have a magnificent old tree worth riding a bike out to see, or would we rather look at, not to mention pay for, another bike bridge?
How about if we fix the roads and STOP BUILDING BRIDGES?!
Doesn't seem to be any shortage of trees in that park.......
@kramr Ah, great. So let them build the bike bridge. Taxpayers can afford another one of those.
It seems about a year ago, Portland Parks & Rec was suspending trash service and closing restrooms because they didn't have the funds. Â
http://www.koinlocal6.com/news/local/story/Portland-parks-to-see-restroom-closures-reduced/mtfHwF6KRECJSAKFimtr6Q.cspx
Now they're building a bridge?
What, there's no other possible location there for their bike and ped path..??? Â Or, as another poster suggested, just build the pathway AROUND the tree..! Â Â
From the sound of this, the "city leaders" kind of went off on their own with this decision - never bothered to ask the public what they wanted... Â If this was "approved some time ago", was this another of Adams' and/or Leonard's little schemes..?
@margay1Â A little meandering never hurt anyone!
There are two ways of thinking on this. Â First, the environmentalist way. Â Stop all progress and take the country back to the 18th century. Â The second, the developers way. Â Destroy anything in the path of building something for a profit. Â This seems to fall somewhere in the middle. Â Why is a bridge needed in the first place? Â Have several people been run over by trains? Â No, it's just easy for Portland to waste money on frivolous items when most of the roads in the city are falling apart. Â A tree of this stature is worth much more than a bridge.
@Shadow hmm I say lets have a cross between a 1800's way of life in a modern era, it would be nice to see the steam engines return, we have cleaner fuels to run them now and they can be self lubing to.
I am so GD sick of these "city leaders". They are public servants, dammit, and they need to listen to what the public wants. You can't find another location around the tree? What is the MATTER with you???
We'll just have to wait until the tree crashes into one of their houses during a wind/ice storm. They'll be the first ones to accuse the city of not managing their trees to prevent those things from happening. On the other hand, the tree will be downed for a bike and pedestrian path for a Greenway project. How can that ever be stopped in Portland? Never, ever! Not in the great liberal bastion of the NW!
@jpk "They?"
Who's "They"?  What if it's somebody like you? How do we know you're not one of "them"?Â
I ain't one of them! I thought "them" were giant ants! Â
@Playanekes @sargerator @jpk
er·go (ûrg, âr-)
conj. Consequently; therefore.adv. Consequently; hence.
Figured you need some lurn'n gramps !
@sargerator @jpk "Ergos"
Did you learn that one from "fauxe" news?
@jpk Ah, ergos the dilemma, I'm here and you're over there, therfore you are "one of them" !
People worried about a tree when this country is falling apart. Just another example of people living in their fairyland worlds, blissfully oblivious to issues that actually matter.Â
@ZebraFeet Let's just build bike bridges EVERYWHERE then, regardless of what the community wants.
To which union are you a member?
@ZebraFeetYou can't know from this article that the people who care about this issue are "blissfully oblivious" to other important matters. Perhaps Keepes and the other concerned citizens have enough room in their psyches to take on more than one thing. They don't seem limited; you do.
As Hamlet says, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."