This year: A lovable tree, loving frogs (click here for full article by John Horgan)
AS usual, 2007 in San Mateo County had more than its share of offbeat material. The Peninsula has long been fertile ground for the slightly off-kilter and the occasionally downright bizarre. Maybe it's the astronomical housing prices that produce this syndrome. Or the organic food. Whatever. In any event, let's take a stroll through some of the more memorable episodes of the past year, in no particular order. Put on your seatbelt. Here goes:
Hey, put down that ax There is perhaps nothing that stirs passions in Burlingame more than the tender subject of fabulous foliage. As a proudly-proclaimed City of Trees, the 100-year-old village is constantly on the watch for any and all attempts to prune, pare or, gasp, eliminate gaudy greenery.
That's the main, overriding reason it took the City Council several years to reach an agonizing decision on what to do about a single, offending eucalyptus tree, dubbed "Tom," on Easton Drive. The root system of the towering euc had intruded out onto Easton, impeding traffic. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen.
There was a reasonable recommendation to chop it down and replace it with something more appropriate. Whoa, not so fast there, Paul Bunyan. Protests ensued. Studies were undertaken.Psyches were damaged. Children fretted. The republic wobbled.
In the end, though, the tree came down without the intervention of Dr. Phil, Oprah or Henry Kissinger. Somehow, Burlingame survived. But barely.
- Written by Fiona
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