Palmetto Bay is not blessed with a Lorax
council. Trees have been removed for horrible projects such as the SW 136Street multi-path.Several trees in the
way of her bridge project were actually smothered and then removed at Coral Reef Park – as well as failing to protect trees hundreds of years old
throughout the village such as the huge Oak in the Morningside neighborhood
(near Franjo Road) or all along the Old Cutler Road.What is wrong with this tree hating
council?
Well, I have formed my own opinion: Dendrophobia
- the fear of trees. Is this what drives the current mayor and the members of
the village council to remove so many trees?
Dendrophobia is a fear of trees. People
with this specific phobia feel anxious when they think about or see a tree.
Many people with tree phobia have had negative experiences with trees. You can
overcome a phobia of trees with exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy,
dialectical behavior therapy and other treatments.
Someone with dendrophobia may be afraid of:
Dangers hidden in trees, such as spiders,
scorpions or snakes. Encountering trees after dark. Shadows made by trees. Sounds of leaves rustling in the wind. Tree branches or entire trees falling on
them. Tripping over tree roots. (a real concern presently at our parks - see photo right) Walking or driving near or underneath
trees.
Or maybe the mayor and council members
suffered traumatic loses of their kites – to kite eating trees – when they were
younger.
So perhaps there is an explanation for this tree hating behavior.
Are these trees in the way of "progress" - it took a viral online petition to save one tree, but which of these large, mature shade trees remain on the chopping block?
It is a fair question: Madam Mayor, Mr. Manager, anyone from the council - please tell us in full and complete sentences how many trees and which ones are to be chopped down to make way for the new building?
The trees pictured above had red ribbons placed around them in April of 2024.
Will these trees also be protected or are they also on the chopping block?
Trees simply seem to "disappear" at Coral Reef Park!
These benches (below) were not installed in the direct sun light, but were originally shaded by a tree. Where did that tree go? Look closely (click on and enlarge the photo - below right) you can find the stump giving evidence that there was once a tree shading those benches - and those who sat upon them.
Past evidence. The haunting shadows of trees past (below center. Shade removed.
Palmetto Bay officials have said nothing said about why these trees were hacked and removed.
EXACTLY HOW DOES THIS BUILDING FIT IN THE TREE CANOPIED AREA?
This new building is being shoehorned into one of the most dense areas of tree canopy. There is a reason for the tree canopy - it is an area where our village children could play in the shade. Sure, the building will be air conditioned, but at what cost to our existing tree canopy?
Here is an official proposed site plan for the proposed building:
There is no overlay to demonstrate how this fits and which trees will be cleared for this project. I am trying to do my best with the following photos of the current area:
Same photos above, but the other mature trees are circle in red (the saved tree is circled in white). Which trees survive and which ones are on the chopping block? As I like to say, these are all fair questions to ask and certainly the current mayor and council members should know, after all, haven't they all been following this project, giving direction to the manager and staff?
PRIOR RELATED POST - Here is an example of the true record of the current mayor and council - the deforestation of Coral Reef Park:
September 17, 2021 - A good (BAD) example of how Palmetto Bay officials are squandering our environmental assets. The affected trees were cut down & removed on 9-16-21 CLICK HERE
The Council never made a public statement about what was happening with these trees. Nope, not a peep - I'm sure their taxpayer funded PR department was of the opinion that it was better to say nothing than to admit their mistakes. But their actions did speak loudly as a tree removal crew quietly showed up on Thursday, September 16, to remove their mistakes. Two 40 plus year oaks were hacked down and removed from Coral Reef Park. What trees, you may ask?
Above - other original oaks in the way of another vanity project of the current mayor and council. The trees were there first - and any competent designer or any caring council could work around the trees. Who knows, perhaps they did not even know those trees were there until they broke ground. The trees are first smothered, then ignored, the chopped down/removed and then the last evidence is removed.
This current mayor and council should resign from "Tree City USA" in shame.
Question – how many voices does it take to force the mayor
and village council to do the right thing?
Answer – over 730 voices involved in
a viral online petition.
Who are the real heroes here? Over 730 people
plus the three who truly lead the charge. Thank you to all those who spoke up
in person, in emails and in the online petition that became a tsunami forcing
the council to reverse court and promise to do what the manager said could not
be done.
Thank you once again to Council Member Dr. Marsha Matson, who has become
the Lone Ranger to Palmetto Bay residents. She acts on behalf of the
residents when the current mayor and remaining council members sit in stone
silence, oblivious in the face of needed action.
Dr. Matson was a catalyst of this latest action – remember we all were told that
(check the video snippet – provided courtesy of A Better Palmetto Bay)
Dr.
Matson: Can the multi-purpose
building in Coral Reef Park be moved to save the old tree?
Manager: I
don’t think at this point it can, ma'am. And we have briefed for the past year
that that there were a number of trees that we going to be removed.
FAIR
QUESTIONS: 1. When
was a landscaping plan presented to the public? (SPOILER ALERT – It wasn’t). 2. Why were no other members of the village council, including the mayor, following up and showing any interest or concern for the tree(s) at this meeting (or at any other time)? (SPOILER ALERT – because they didn't care until the viral online petition hit 700 signatures.)
We, the people, want government to be brought out from
under the shade and into the sunshine, not the passive areas of our parks through the destruction of our precious tree canopy.
THE OBVIOUS TAKEAWAY – the manager stated that for the past
year, they have advised as to tree removal – and only the Lone Ranger, Dr.
Matson, has ever raised an issue with saving
trees. Wow. Watch the video. Only Dr. Matson
is active and engaged. The remaining members of the council are disengaged,
actively disinterested, staring into space or reading papers or from their
electronic devices. So it fell to grass roots – led by Mark Merwitzer, Pam
Gorman and Palmetto Bay’s Lone Ranger. The Mayor and council had the
chance to involve the public, but they squandered the opportunity to allow the
public to participate in important decisions.
Thank you Mark Merwitzer, who is active and energetic, as
opposed to those stodgy members of the council who have no ideas and no ability
to follow up and represent the people when staff is attempting to move items
forward. Far too many members of this council are there for the
paychecks and benefits that they have awarded themselves. They don’t want to
take any action, accepting the will of the staff.
He has the will and ability to be the voice of the people.
And Thank you Pam Gorman, who initiated the petition and
rallied so many concerned residents to the cause.
No one would be evening learning of the proposed fate of
the trees, or would have had a voice in this matter, had it not been for the
leadership and determination of these three. They were instrumental
in this fight.
Action matters more than words. This fight is
not over until all the paperwork is completed. we need to remember that this fight is
not over. We must remain vigilant and ensure Mayor Cunningham and the other
Village Council Members follows through on the (appropriate) flip flop to now
save this the tree. Let us hope that this success translates into a new policy,
reversing this administration's terrible record and the
countless trees they have destroyed in the name of development, we
cannot afford to take her word at face value.
The tree loss extends beyond the SW 136th Street MEGA sidewalk project. 82nd avenue is joining the streets undergoing tree diets. It now appears as if no trees ever stood on the Northeast corner of SW 152 Street and 82nd Avenue. But there were - the Oaks were at least 50 years old. They survive many storms, including Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but they could not survive the chain saw.
I posted the question on 9/20/2021: when will these oaks be replaced? How many others have been removed in Palmetto Bay? We now have our answer as to replacement: The policy appears to be that lost trees are not being replaced, instead, non-native lawns are being planted where the trees once stood. This is more maintenance; including mowing and fertilizing. Less shade, no replacement of trees.
Palmetto Bay officials appear unconcerned. It is as if they really do not care to remain a Tree City USA community? The pictures speak for themselves. And take note, the big stately Oaks were in the public right of way. They can be, they should be, replaced.
Where is the tree maintenance / replanting program that Palmetto Bay once took pride in?
Answer? There are new policies at play that reflect the current priorities (or lack of) for this current mayor and council.
Warnings, alarms, requests were issued in April about two oak trees being smothered, surrounded by concrete as part of the 3rd bridge construction in Coral Reef Park. They went unheeded. And now, two stately oaks, well over 30 feet tall appear quite dead, suffocated in just over 5 months time. How old were these trees? We can count the rings when the trees are cut down and removed. What a waste. A squandering of our natural environment.
Palmetto Bay: Tree City USA, are you kidding me? Palmetto Bay "leadership" should be hanging their heads in shame. Village of Palmetto Bay officials seem to be on a mission to reach record numbers for tree killing in Palmetto Bay. Obviously green is no longer a priority or an official policy for the current mayor, council and staff.
There are several ways to kill trees. The most obvious is to cut down, rip out, like what is now happening along SW 136 Street - remember trees that we paid for in prior tax dollars. But don't worry, our tax dollars will be used to replace some of these mature trees with fewer and much smaller landscaping trees. Our tax dollars at work 3 times: 1. The original planting, 2. Removal, and 3. New smaller trees representing partial replacement.
Another way to kill a tree to to smother it by raising the ground level around its original base as well as surrounding the root line with asphalt. This is the tactic Palmetto Bay officials employed at Coral Reef Park. The results are documented in the photos posted here.
I warned. I called out to the public and asked for support, but no one heeded the call. What did we get from Palmetto Bay officials? Crickets. Now look at the trees pictured here. Do they look healthy to you? How about we have mayor Cunningham and each council member reach into their own pockets to pay to have them replaced rather than raise our taxes to pay for the damage going on in this village.
It is obvious that these trees were expendable as they were in the way of what this current mayor and her administration felt to be more important: more cement, more asphalt and a third bridge that no one from the public asked for in Coral Reef Park.
Why it matters:
People go to parks for trees. As mayor, I took pride in this village, I coined and introduced the moniker "Village of Parks". But more importantly, I worked hard to make Palmetto Bay the Village of Parks. The title should have meaning. But with that title comes responsibility.
A question of competence. Every child who has ever trapped a lizard in a jar knows that, if a living thing doesn't have enough air, it dies. Yet the mayor and council, a group that includes two supposed educators, didn't realize that pushing up the ground around the trees and then actually pouring an asphalt walkway around them would suffocate them. We were told they would be OK. Obviously they aren't. This current group of officials can't even care for mature trees that only need to be left alone to thrive.
I took pride in leading Palmetto Bay to become a "Tree City USA" community. But let's face it, the village is backsliding under the current leadership. Poinciana Trees have been removed from 184th Street, trees are afterthoughts and are being removed from 136th Street to make way for the unnecessary mega 10 foot sidewalk and now this. Trees that survived Hurricane Andrew and so many other intense storms, named and unnamed, were unable to survive the onslaught brought on by the current administration.
Our Budget. Mature specimen trees are expensive, At best, we start over with yearling trees that will take 30 years to reach the size of the two trees that finally succumbed to the asphalt. Can this group be trusted with new plantings when they are obviously so destructive on the well established specimens throughout Palmetto Bay?
Responsibility to mange our natural resources.
Designing public projects. Who designed this bridge? A huge structure which many opine is out of scale with the park, both in its size as well as the lengthy railing seemingly required for this bridge (but somehow that railing is not the other 2 bridges that have served the park well for 40 years). And of course, they could not design the bridge to work in the park without smothering two very large specimen oak trees.
Community trust in our government and the officials. We can see a continuing pattern of saying one thing; saying what people want to hear, but either doing the opposing or simply failing to follow through.
Palmetto Bay's Tree Inventory Action Plan. Well, members of the Palmetto Bay's Tree Board, here are two more trees that need to be counted along with all those along SW 136th Street; that you should update and remove from that great tree survey that Palmetto Bay taxpayers funded. Are you keeping score? You should be. You have but one very important job and we have not heard anything from you concerning the issues we have been raising. For a historical reference, I was the prime sponsor of creation of this Tree Board, part of our requirements for becoming a "Tree City USA" Community. the tree Board was created under ordinance 09-02, now codified under Article IV, Sec. 2-108. - Tree board, of our Village Code of Ordinances. It was enacted on 1-12-2009
Is there still time to call upon Miracle Max? Maybe, just maybe, we can get lucky, and as Miracle Max (a character in The Princess Bride) would say, those trees are only mostly dead. Perhaps there is action that can be taken to bring these trees back that are mostly dead, if not actually dead, but as Miracle Max said: It would take a miracle!
Below are some photos of how Coral reef Park look with when the trees were healthy, before the mega bridge.
A photo of the trees that thrived before the bridge.
The trees post bridge. Note the new raised elevation that impact their trunks. Paving over their root lines
Concerned residents were told not to worry, this the tree would be fine - Wrong!
A continuing issue for this current mayor/administration:
1. Leaping without looking, and
2. Rules are for others.
I was proud to lead Palmetto Bay into becoming a "Tree City USA" municipality. But tree abuse like this should lead to Palmetto Bay being stricken from that list of honor.
What am I talking about? This once proud Oak Tree (pictured right). I am also posting before and after photos. Note the elevation. Note that at one time these trees were planted in ground far from any paved surfaces. Now they are paved into the bridge path. Why is this a problem? Because placing asphalt too close to the roots has been described by some environmentalists as the equivalent to placing a plastic bag over someone's head, but placing a few air holes in it to provide air to breath. This tree is now facing an uphill (or downhill) battle for survival.
Trees are important to parks (they are very important in general). Trees/plants are essential for the passive/environmental element. Trees should line and shade walking paths, but not have their roots paved over like this one. It is also ironic to note that these impacted trees are close to the meditation area that members of the Palmetto Bay Garden club set aside for the late Dolly Morrow. Now garden club members will view what has been done to this tree.
Pictured above: the trees pre-3rd bridge built 2020-2021
Also take note of how the tree has become 'shorter'. The ground around that tree was elevated surrounding (against) the trunk. This is not healthy. This is a tree not long for this world.
Note the changed elevation for the trees adjacent to, not made part of the path
Who cares? Too few obviously, perhaps even the Palmetto Bay Tree Board. I can't believe the Tree Board Members would have signed off on this path placement. And if they didn't, well then, that is another problem in and of itself.
Many residents want "tree protection" in Palmetto Bay; for Palmetto Bay to punish developers and property owners who cut down trees to make way for development. But here is the real issue: How can we expect Palmetto Bay to enforce rules on private property when it ignores Village rules on public land?
This is yet another example as to how this current administration operates with little regard - actually - no regard, for rules.
Are there rules against this? Palmetto Bay adopted
Chapter 24, Article IV, Division 2 of the Miami-Dade County Code, cited as Sec.
30-100.4. - Tree preservation and protection.
The technical section:
It’s a short section, simply providing that
The Village
of Palmetto Bay adopts Chapter 24, Article IV, Division 2 of the Miami-Dade
County as part of the Village's Code as it relates to tree preservation and
protection. DERM is responsible for administering and enforcing these
provisions. (Ord. No. 08-21, § 1, 10-6-2008)
A sub part of this applicable Miami-Dade County code
provides that:
(e)Natural grade shall be maintained within protective
barriers. In the event that the natural grade of the site is changed as a
result of site development such that the safety of the tree may be endangered,
tree wells or retaining walls are required. (bold emphasis added)
Note the lack of either tree wells or retaining walls in the pictures posted.
The tree trunks are merely absorbed into the new land elevations.
I once oversaw the implementation of a “right tree in the
right place” program for Palmetto Bay. It is obvious that not a single village official looked at a map locating the existing trees when the current administration was looking to place a
bridge. Poor planning and execution.
