In the next two pictures, you can see that there are still cars in the parking lot! The administration was so quiet about this, they didn't even warn people not to park where the trees were being cut!
Sawdust:
The two most beautiful trees, and I'd guess the oldest, were within the sidewalk area east of the road just east of Peters. The police did not know whether those were set to be cut down. I'm going back tonight to find out.
Gosh, excuse me, we did get notice, ON BULLETIN BOARD, AT 10:16 AM THIS MORNING; looks like they jumped the gun by one day, since the warning is for tomorrow.
Campus Community:
Parking Lots A & J located on the east side of the campus will be
reconstructed this summer. The project will include filling in the ponding
basins, realigning the parking stalls and adding new parking spaces.
Construction will begin May 24, the project is scheduled to be complete
mid-August. During construction Lots A & J will be closed. Alternate
parking locations are available in Lots V, C and P. Throughout the
project the northern portion of Woodrow Ave will be closed for moving
dirt, traffic will be rerouted through the Save Mart Center North Lot. If you
have any questions please contact Amy Armstrong.
Amy Armstrong
Parking
Administrator
Treebeard shares your anger.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaZmdZACMNo
I hope he goes straight to the 4th floor of the library.
ReplyDeleteI wish we could rally some Ents to come take care of the dark powers infesting the tower on our campus these days! If only...
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the heartrending photos, Craig. Over half the trees were already down as I drove into the killing fields of the parking lot at 9:15 this morning! I was out there later in the day, with a bunch of colleagues, trying to figure out some way to stop the clear-felling of all the trees (to no avail, of course). It was hard to hold in my rage even as I was trying to comfort a really distraught colleague who was in tears. I'm trying to articulate my own frustrations in a post for my blog - but I didn't have my camera with me, so I'm glad you've posted pictures here. I'll post a link back here when I have my post up.
Did they do an EIR - environmental impact report - on that?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I've been wondering. We didn't find out they were going to do this until they'd begun.
DeleteTrees do so much for our local environment - provide shade, combat air quality issues, look beautiful. They also provide habitat for birds who fill the air with they beautiful songs. Cute critters wander in and around those trees. I wonder what Wanda the Fresno State squirrel thinks? (BTW Craig - have you written on the Fresno State Squirrel? - I wonder if squirrel prints are the same as our print on our stationary - maybe Wanda is the first step in changing our mascot form a bulldog to a squirrel? Anyway, I digress....).
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow Midwesterner, I think you understand me when I say I miss living in a place where trees grow like weeds. I also miss the green of summer. Trees make summer green around here because everything else is dried dirt and grass.
As a fellow Catholic, who wonders at creation and holds things that are not created by humans as sacred, I'm sure you also understand me when I say that the Fresno norm is sinful disregard of the manifestation of God in nature. The most egregious disregard is often perpetuated by a small minority of people who claim to be living in God's grace. God help them and us.
I appreciate and support those from all backgrounds who work advocate for our natural environment and work to bring elements of it into our urban landscape. Maybe this is a call to the rest of us to be more aware and active in advocating for our natural environment.
Parking issues could have been solved and trees saved if the school built a parking structure like they were supposed to in lot Q when it was first built and in lot V when it was remodeled.
ReplyDelete