UPDATE….BY MY COUNT FOUR LARGE TREES HAVE BEEN CUT DOWN…MANY OTHERS DAMAGED.
I am glad the online newspaper, The Capital Times, picked up on this story (and my blog) as this is a very important issue to the residents of Spaight Street. I also appreciate the headline to the story, as it hits the mark, and sums up how many feel. Given how much angst there is on the street one must ask why there is not a more visible sign of leadership of any kind from City Alderperson Marsha Rummel. (As of this writing my email correspondence to her from a week ago has not been answered. T0 be honest, I have never found her overly eager to respond on any issue unless I have called several times. Frankly my time is as valuable as hers, and one call or email should suffice. While I like her personally, I find her not the most adept at constituent relations.) Telling residents that there needs to be more study of the street construction issue so Willy Street, and future street construction projects, do not meet the same fate is the same old routine we hear from politicians all the time. There seems to be a lack of willingness to say what needs to be said. Perhaps Rummel and Mayor Dave can walk down the street and view the damage. Surely they can find the time. They also might talk with folks on the street that are impacted and better understand the frustration. Someone dropped the ball on Spaight Street! Question is who will pick it up and show some leadership.
Marsha??
The irreplaceable, lofty trees are the finishing touch on the fashionable neighborhood, a hip and comfortable enclave of older, mostly lovingly tended homes and two-flats.
One resident, whose usual curb-side terrace garden was supplanted by construction this season, was tying strings to her front porch roof to support green bean vines on Tuesday. The improvements to the street were nice, she mused, but she’d take the trees, and turned a worried eye toward the towering oaks rimming nearby Orton Park.
Several trees on Spaight already were felled and the chopped and exposed roots of many others easy to spot on a walk down what is temporarily a dirt road. Was it carelessness that caused the loss of trees, a cavalier disregard for “collateral damage,” or an unavoidable loss when a new curb is carved in past trees that long ago nudged their roots under the old pavement?
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
I too live on Spaight. I understood that my terrace garden would be lost to the project, but week after week my tree took a beating. Two limbs were ripped down. by machinery and tossed in my front yard. The complete disregard by the contractors (not from Madison) for this old eclectic historic neighborhood was evident as they tossed their empty cans and chip bags in the terrace.
I much agree with the disregard the workers showed to the area. Junk and cans thrown everywhere, and then not picked up, but dirt and concrete just added on top. It was a little land fill for these folks. Their only investment in the area was a lunch box, and it showed.
I live on Spaight Street in the 1300 block. I had a mostly positive experience with the street reconstruction contractors. I didn’t have tree in the city-owned terrace as the one I did have had split and needed taking down. I did loose a small peach tree, but understand that the trees in the terrace are the city’s responsibility.
To say that our neighborhood is mostly owner-occupied, well maintained homes and two flats is clearly a large exaggeration. I wish it were so. But, look at the the big-landlord owned two and three flats. They make up a large proportion of the buildings in the neighborhood. If you look, you’ll see many badly maintained buildings that are not “stately” old residences. We might be hip, but the big landlords are taking a lot of tenant money to their Lake Tahoe cabins and not putting it into their income producing, badly maintained housing here in our neighborhood.
You can blame owners who don’t live here and care only for their incomes. APEX Management is a prime example of this. Big property onwer Eric Minton has done a comparatively good job with three houses he owns surrounding my home. You can help return owner-occupants by not selling your property to such people who will never live here near the tenants they’re responsible to.
Our block has mostly linden trees. The ones on the MGE side have had to be cut rather badly because of the electric lines. I think it very well might be that shorter growing trees that can be allowed to grow naturally will look much better than a lot of tall, carved-up box elders or lindens. I know there are a few very nice ginkos or other varieties.
Go for some nice new, shorter-growing trees and in a few years they will look better than the old ones.
Peter,
Thanks for commenting.
Having the city bury the lines would allow for some of the issues you mention to be resolved. I know that there is lots of interest in that idea for sections of Spaight Street that have not been re-done yet. Neighbors here are going to press for that when the time comes. We do not want to see what happened this summer repeated. There is no reason that the lines are not buried at the time of construction regardless of location in the city. The power companines/etc will try and opt for the same old way of doing things, but this is 2009!
There is also a strong desire for owners that live here to not see this truly charming street look or resemble the west side or a suburb. The tall older trees are an essential element to this area. Also it should be noted that in many of the older homes here the trees are part of the shading effect that keep the homes cooler in summer. Many of these old Victorian homes are not insulated. Ours for instance was constructed in 1892, and though we have central air, we love the old big trees as they provide not only beauty but cooling.
While there are some rental places on Spaight Street that need some serious up-keeping the majority of homes here are really quite wonderful. City historians will note that over the past years the trend has been one of improvement in this area. As the downtown continues to enchant newcomers with more money this will only increase I suspect in the years to come.
I might add one other comment.
You noted that the trees in the terrace are the city’s responsibility. I also think it is our duty to water and protect them. And work to get new ones planted.
When we moved in August 2007 a tree was taken from the terrace. I was told it would be a year until the root would even be removed. I was a constant caller to the city and was determined that the root had to go so a new planting would take place. (I love trees.) It is not as if the work crews are not in the general area. So once the root was gone I became a frequent caller to the city about a new tree. Once planted we have watered it a couple times a week every week during the warm months. I think it sad that trees on terraces look dry and wilted when renters/owners are close by to care for them.
(I am shocked that renters do no care more for their surroundings I must admit.)
I know of people in this neighborhood that plant their own tress and invest money into the terrace as a way of saying this neighborhood matters, and trees matter.
Where is this “Spaight Street”? I live in Greenville, TX and am curious as to where it might be.