Macklind Avenue Massacre 8.10.2007 | 4 Comment(s)
This morning as I was leaving for work I noticed that there was some tree trimming taking place near Tom Bess Automotive. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when I returned home I saw a horrible site. The trees that line the sidewalk between Nottingham and Tom Bess had been butchered. Each tree looks as if its top canopy has been split open by some awful force. What was once a full, shapely collection of shade giving branches and leaves is now obscenely straddling the power lines above.

This same kind of pruning has happened further down Macklind, I think near Walsh as well as in some other areas up and down the street. Surely there has to be a way to protect the power grid without resorting to butchering the street trees that give our neighborhoods character. I'm really upset about this, to be honest. The trees look awful now, sickly and bare...and they used to be so nice.
4 comments:

By Blogger equals42, at 9:40 PM

It's a horrible side effect of the city not forcing the utilities to be placed below ground. I saw the same hack job performed on trees along Southwest Ave east of River des Peres. It's a miserable looking solution to the problems that tree limbs pose to power lines. Ameren is spending a lot of money on tree trimming when I think the money would be better spent long term to place the utilities underground. It's a greater cost initially, but the tree maintenance cost disappears completely upon completion. They could easily pass the costs off to everyone. They raise the rate on us anyway. At least this way we wouldn't worry about lightning, wind or ice.

 

By Anonymous lenn518, at 11:03 PM

What a mess Ameren has made. They must be held accountable for the destruction they are doing to neighborhoods. Tree slashing is not the answer, it only makes it look as if they (Ameren) are doing something. If a tree falls it will still take out the wires. Today Ameren reached into our yard and slashed a tree that did not come close to the electral lines. What gives them the right. Maybe they would like to pay for distruction of property. We were without elect. after the storm Sat morning the 13th. Lightning hit the transformer behind our house. A larg branch from the same tree that was slashed today also came down in the storm. The branch did not touch a wire. I am sick of big business doing what they want, when they want. We always loose! MAKE THEM STOP SLASHING OUR TREES AND DEFACING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS!!!!!!!!!

 

By Blogger Michael, at 11:09 AM

This post has been removed by the author.

 

By Blogger Michael, at 2:28 PM

I have started a visual journal of the mauling at http://www.earthlog.info/ameren_ue_was_here/. My goal is to document what AmerenUE is doing across the area.

I hope it's not too idealistic to think that if the word gets out to a broad enough audience, AmerenUE will re-consider what it is doing.

Michael