we can fight city hall

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 ???