John Cloud is seconds from losing it. The doublespeak he’s getting from John Thomas, head of the Urban Forestry Administration at the D.C. Department of Transportation, is the kind that makes citizens crazy.
The Kalorama resident recently learned that two heritage oak trees were chopped down by the UFA in his neighborhood park at Columbia Road and 19th Street NW. Standing in the rain, he is demanding Thomas and his arborist explain their actions.
“You cut down two trees that were alive and didn’t cut down the tree that has been dead for a year,” Cloud says.
The trees were removed without notice, stunning Cloud, D.C. Council member Jim Graham and Department of Parks and Recreation staffers. (Interestingly, a full week after first being informed by Cloud of the removal, DPR Director Clark Ray and Thomas sent out a news release, giving the impression the two agencies communicated before any action took place.)
Cloud has pleaded during the past three years with city officials to rescue the trees inside the park and along nearby streets. Their answer came in the form of a chain saw.
“We are trying to get the parks cleaned up. We are not here to remove healthy trees,” asserts Thomas, adding that the UFA has had responsibility for DPR trees since October 2007. But an inventory hasn’t been completed.
Still, a chain saw is coming to a tree near you. According to a list provided by the DDOT — a week after I requested it — Ward 2 may be the only place where trees will be spared. It’s easy to conclude the UFA is in the tree-cutting — not preservation — business.
Thomas says the trees in Kalorama were “hazardous.” (But three days after our meeting, he doesn’t provide documentation supporting his assertion.)
“I felt we would be thanked,” arborist Munever Ertem says, adding that she is “insulted.” “I used my judgment: One [tree] was hazardous, and the other was dying,” she says.
Thomas insists the UFA didn’t violate any law. He says notification is required only when private property is involved. The park is government property; notification to the DPR or the mayor isn’t necessary because the UFA is acting on behalf of the mayor and DPR.
Cloud calls Thomas’ explanation hogwash. Actually, his language is a tad stronger. Me, I’m dizzy from the circular logic.
Where do residents — taxpayers — fit in? Don’t they have a right to know before any action is taken?
I remember watching last Memorial Day as residents converged on Kalorama Park. Children rode their scooters along various paths; couples stretched out on blankets thrown beneath massive oak trees; and seniors sat side by side on shaded benches chatting about sundry matters. The day was perfect. The scene was an example of how parks serve as neighborhood anchors and community hubs.
Unfortunately, Monday, Labor Day, there were two fewer trees for Kalorama residents to enjoy.
Jonetta Rose Barras, an author and political analyst, can be reached at [email protected].
