In an era when the city can’t seem to manage to cut grass and parts of Riverwalk are unsafe due to broken brick-lined walkways, the commission has turned its attention to the trees that line the Augusta Common.
The James Brown statue was once a popular place to sit and enjoy an outdoor lunch. It was, that is until the city removed the trees making the plaza unbearably hot.
Part of the rationale for removing the trees is that the trees obscure the view and that they are of a non-native species.
For decades, the city has hosted concerts and events at Augusta Common, and no one has complained about the trees obscuring their view. Furthermore, the argument that the trees are a non-native species falls flat; they are shade trees, not invasive kudzu.
The cost of eliminating the trees would also be high at a time that funds are hard to come by for maintaining the most basic landscaping the city is responsible for.
Rather than removing healthy trees in the Common, the city should maintain and monitor the trees that line the medians in Olde Towne and along Central Avenue. In the recent past, some of the century-old trees in those areas have become unstable and have fallen during intense storms, causing property damage and at least one death.
No matter the motivation, the war on trees has garnered about as much public support as Putin’s war on Ukraine. A massive pushback occurred at the Augusta Tree Commission meeting on March 18.
The city needs to be focused on fixing potholes, repairing public sidewalks and cutting the grass rather than the trees at the Common that mind their own business and contribute beauty and much-needed shade to downtown.
