we can fight city hall

during the summer of 2007, a tiny seattle greenbelt was destroyed on capitol hill by a wealthy developer homeowner - despite clear documentation that the city of seattle has violated its own ordinances in allowing this devastation, months of communication with the arborist’s office, the mayor’s office, the department of transportation, and others in city government has been met primarily with silence or kafkaesque bureaucracy - the city has failed to either stop the continuing damage or require meaningful restoration - and so, a new chapter….. wecanfightcityhall.org - while I fully appreciate that the information presented here may feel a bit overwhelming to anyone not immersed in city regulatory processes, the basic elements of this story are quite simple - this website provides a recording and documentation of:

the small greenbelt in question is an unimproved city right of way, that had been populated by mature trees, groundcover, understory shrubs, and natural leaf - mold mulch - it provided habitat for birds, insects, and small mammals, preventing soil erosion, absorbing rainfall and reducing storm water run-off, filtering impurities and producing oxygenin december of 2006, as owner of the property adjacent to this right-of-way, I commissioned a tree preservation and landscape enhancement plan for this property - the intent of this plan was to preserve existing trees (primarily very large big leaf maples), to remove non-native groundcovers (primarily english ivy) and to add numerous native trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and mulch to the area, and to begin regular maintenance, including pruning, weeding, watering, and organic fertilization - this plan was submitted to the city arborist and was approvedfollowing the city’s issuance of permit for this work, a neighbor to the south, mr jeff wysong, having recently completed extensive renovation of his new home on federal avenue, decided to build a sport court in his rear yard, part of his triple residential lot - rather than building the sport court prior to, or simultaneously with, the renovation of his house, which would have been logical, or bringing in equipment and materials around and over the house (via crane), which would have been feasible, mr wysong elected to cut down eight mature city of seattle trees, remove a majority of existing shrubs and groundcovers, and build a construction access road on city of seattle propertythis destruction began late May of 2007 in violation of appropriate city permit requirements and with complete disregard of the original city approved improvement plan for this greenbelt in the following post are some examples of the failure of attempted discourse and constructive resolution with the city to date

sadly, there has been little discussion - after some initial response by the department of transportation, who at first denied all infraction, but later acknowledged multiple errors, the loudest sound since has been pure silence - subsequent and repeated calls and email to the department of transportation, the mayor’s office, the arborist’s office, the city council (with the single exception of councilperson tom rasmussen) have been absolutely ignored - each of these communications were specific requests for assistance to limit further destruction and effect meaningful restoration of the city greenbeltbelow are selections from the last interchange, which occurred on june 18th, 2007 - when confronted with the city of seattle website posting of ordinance # 90047, requiring “written permission by affected neighbors before the cutting of city trees by private individuals is permitted by the city”,. . . . mr joe bell, director of street use and urban forestry division, stated that ordinance 90047 did not exist - at an onsite meeting with mr joe bell and mr roy francis of the city, and mr bruce hinckley, an environmentalist and landscape architect, it was recommended by mr bell that the neighborhood support mr wysong’s restoration planting plan, as it had now been approved by the city . . . . when mr hinckley pointed out that noone had been willing to show him that plan, mr bell refused to provide it, but told us to apply for access through the freedom-of-information-act is that what the freedom-of-information act was designed to protect? at a time in our nation when there is such a major disconnect between what our federal government says and what it does, it is especially demoralizing to experience such a dynamic locally with our city - while our mayor assumes courageous national leadership in environmental protection, we are simultaneously hacking green in our own backyardmayor nickels ???

after writing the post above, citing the seattle department of transportation website and the discussion with mr bell about ordinance # 90047, I attempted to create a link to the city website for this blog remarkably, the wording of the city site has changedthe city of seattle has removed the following two sentences fom the second paragraph:“ if you are not the abutting property owner of the proposed work, you will need to include the signatures of all adjacent neighbors who will be affected - the signatures should demonstrate that the adjacent neighbors approve of the proposed project” however, the city foolishly retained the last sentence of the original paragraph in its website, which makes no sense whatsoever, in the edited context: “the arborist office can help you locate the names and addresses of those neighbors if you are uncertain of who to contact“ seattle’s own little watergate - what shall we call it - plantgate? treegate? greengate? - I personally prefer greengate, as I have begun to believe that the kind of green that matters for some of our city is not the kind that grows on trees your input and recommendations will be greatly appreciated and enjoyed - I know it is likely the city website will be changed again, but I have copies of the original website and today’s website - who knows what tomorrow’s may bring?

mr wysong has completed his “replanting” of the greenbelt -he has not followed his own plan, the latest city-approved plan, unsatisfactory and unsuitable as it was - what he has provided instead is a private path to his own backyard - instead of placement of trees and other planting elements in such a manner as to afford any semblance of return to the native habitat, he has lined a small road, with trees and small plantings to either side, that is simply a private and personal path, rather than a city of seattle greenbelt

what more does the city of seattle require before it intervenes?

al gore and the intergovernmental panel on climate change win the 2007 nobel peace prize “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”

in the emerald city, we are hacking green in our public spaces - by contrast, in the big apple, mayor bloomberg launches the plant a million tree in nyc initiative on october 9, by planting the first tree with bette midler in brooklyn perhaps when mayor bloomberg comes to seattle with president clinton and nobel peace laureate al gore on november 1st as part of the mayors’ climate protection summit, mayor bloomberg can bring one of those nyc trees for seattle - I know just where he can plant - we’re missing a few….new york, new york … king of the hill / top of the heap

ace journalist, kayla sargent (of insominia fame) is preparing a documentary on the saga of greengate in seattle

August 21, 2009

SEATTLE — Mayor Greg Nickels, who rose to national prominence as an outspoken advocate on environmental issues, conceded here Friday that he had lost his bid for a third term. Mr. Nickels trailed two political newcomers in a primary vote.

“Twice they gave me the honor of doing this,” Mr. Nickels said of Seattle voters, who narrowly elected him to his first term in 2001. “They want a new generation of leadership.”

continue to article in new york times