A: Michelle, Ace understands your concern. It’s not unusual for us humans to get attached (sometimes unhealthily) to our verdant friends. Consider Julia Butterfly Hill, who lived in her pet redwood, “Luna,” for two years out in California to protest logging. But while Butterfly Hill may have been crusading on the behalf of a 1,000-year-old redwood, the case is a little different when it comes to a 50- to 75-year-old cedar that is on its last limbs anyway.
Just ask Bill Letteri, chief of facilities for the city, who is the man with the plan when it comes to the east end of the Mall’s renovations. According to him, neither a small nature preserve surrounding the tree nor eco-friendly architecture that makes way for treelings makes much sense. Says Letteri, “We…have had a tree expert look at that tree [and it’s] near the end of its life.”
Letteri and his team explored the possibility of having Wallace, Roberts & Todd—Philly-based architects in charge of the multimillion-dollar transit center set for construction where the cedar currently stands—build around the tree, only to conclude that, regardless, the already ailing cedar would not survive the upheaval of construction. “There’s just no easy way to work out the grade such that the tree could remain and survive. It’s a very old tree,” Letteri explained.
The east end’s makeover is slated to begin in October with the redirecting of utilities, followed by the extension of the Mall and improvements to the amphitheater. Everything should be completed by May 2005. The transit center will follow, says Letteri, and be ready to accommodate buses and such by early spring 2006.
Rest assured, though, my little Ms. Branch, Letteri also promised Ace that, come planting time, a new generation of seedlings will take root in and around the amphitheater and proposed transit center. WRT has also been entrusted with the landscape design of the area and instructed to maintain consistency in regards to species when planning out the new plantings.
“We are going to be consistent in use of materials that we use along the Mall,” says Letteri. Unfortunately for cedar fans, that means that most likely maples will be the tree of choice since that’s the species that predominantly lines the rest of the Mall.