May 2016

Touchmark to gift trees to All Saints Neighborhood

l3wis May 20, 2016 2Comments

Funny, after all of the crying about ‘destroying a neighborhood’ by cutting down a couple of trees, it seems the neighborhood may have a change of heart;

When Touchmark removed dozens of mature trees, angered neighbors said they felt misled about the number of trees that would be spared.

Last week, Touchmark agreed to donate $3,750 to help the All Saints Neighborhood Association plant up to 100 trees in the neighborhood.

“Neighbors aren’t always going to agree on issues. What’s important is that something positive has come about because of the issue itself,” said Katrina Lehr-McKinney, the association’s president. “Touchmark, in our neighborhood, has found another way to work together to make something positive happen.”

I have said from the beginning a couple of things,

• Touchmark owns the property, they should be able to build what they want to within limitations.
• The grove of trees next to the retirement center was actually pretty creepy (I nicknamed it Gorky Park), and anything there would be an improvement (in fact I have been enjoying the construction project because you can see the old building now that the trees are removed).
• I have felt this was never about the trees but the industrial hospital complexes fighting Touchmark providing therapy and care to their clients on campus, and some neighbors in the hood were manipulated to fight it under the guise of ‘trees’ and ‘historical preservation’.
• Now we find out, they will add even more trees to the hood (though I am opposed to planting in the boulevard.)

See, a happy ending after all. I wonder if the new therapy center will be providing Chinese massages? But don’t complain about that to the city council, or they will call you a racist.