The city of Augusta has proven that, for years, many of its hires cannot mow the grass on city property, and now this brain trust wants to eliminate the trees downtown.
About 100 trees, mostly on Greene Street between East Boundary and 13th streets, were spray-painted with a pink “x,” signaling that in the absence of a public outcry, those trees will be firewood soon.
Among the trees casually marked for destruction are a crape myrtle on Telfair that was designated a “state champion” due to its age by the Georgia Forestry Commission.
It is clear to us that no one in Augusta government has ever seen a picture of Broad Street taken in the 1950s and 1960s when trees were as rare as hen’s teeth in the business district downtown.
One reason the malls were able to compete so successfully was that people could shop in air-conditioned comfort as opposed to walking block after block in the sweltering direct sunlight.
Only the those who are totally out of touch would want a return to those days.
In our opinion, the city departments involved have one-cent sales tax money burning a hole in their pocket and this is their moronic idea of how to spend it. Rather than cut down trees that are diseased or in danger of falling in a heavy storm, they would rather just cull the entire grove.
We have long advocated for the city to hire an arborist to monitor the health of our historic trees and make recommendations directly to the commission.
However, time is fleeting, and there is no time to hire a consultant; we urge everyone to contact their commissioner and demand this project be stopped until a sane plan can be developed.
After all, once the trees are gone, they are gone forever.
