Bye Bye Eucalyptus?

The on-going saga of the "renewal" of El Camino Real took another turn as the Citizens Environmental Council bought off on the plan to take out 85 Eucs along the main thoroughfare through town--the signature feature of B'game. Councilmembers Beach and Brownrigg are the designated electeds on this Council. The key part of the Daily Journal story about the decision is

There was limited feedback from community members during the meeting

Whereas Zoom-dom has made some things more accessible, it seems to me it has stymied the kind of public input that happens when a bunch of people show up live in City Council chambers and look officials in the eye.  We've covered this on-going ECR issue in the past; last January here and in 2018 here.  The fragility of the traffic lights and how we handle that now is here.  The Caltrans public comment period closes tonight, but that is far from the end of the story.  My guess is most of the people in town have no idea that some CEC would agree to take out the historically-designated tree grove.  The story isn't over til the chainsaws roar.

As if that isn't enough, the bike advocates want to take away at least one lane!  The resident twenty-something who has lived here for about a minute and half but doesn't like anything as it is, weighed in

After the discussion, Burlingame resident Madeline Frechette expressed her displeasure with the nature of the discussion, which excluded what will happen between the curbs.  “The exclusion of themes like rapid transit or safe bike infrastructure is confusing,” she said in an email. “Certainly what happens to the tree line and sidewalks could have ramifications for the roadway, and we are at a point in history where we cannot afford to selectively prioritize concerns about greenery aesthetics.”

That last bit is classic doubletalk.  She's the one doing the "selective prioritizing".  More importantly, she is apparently blissfully unaware that there are dedicated north and south bike lanes that parallel ECR a couple of blocks away on California and Carolan that are much closer to two forms of public transit.  Nor has she any consideration of the impact on police, fire and ambulance access of shutting down anything "between the curbs" on our busy artery.  These Eucs offer more than "greenery aesthetics" if one remembers our history like this incident in 2009.

Comments

[Trees Ruin Burlingame Beauty]

Where are the tree huggers to clean up our city streets covered in Eucalyptus tree garbage. $100,000 minimum damage.

[MBGA]

Have the authorities published which trees are included in the 85 they want to get rid of?
All those eucs are tagged with little metal stamped number plates. Can we learn the numbers?

[hollyroller@gmail.com]

The metal tags represent each tree that has been "evaluated" for Root, Crown, and overall safety related to the "micro environment" the tree grows in.
There should be "Public Record."
City, County, State. Just ask.
Or contact a City of Burlingame Elder.
Just Ask.

[Joe]

I hear the figure of 85 trees is not a firm thing yet. As noted last year there are about 500 EUCs on ECR now which is down quite a bit from their peak. But nothing has really been decided yet.

[Jennifer Pfaff]

Yes, and Holly is right...it's a tag for inventory, and location.

[hollyroller@gmail.com]

Thank you Jennifer.

[Rhoderick]

Get to the root of the problem to improve the design and road safety by requesting the State to turn the ECR street over to the communities? It is a local street not a State Highway as I understand it.

[resident]

No. It's a state highway - CA 82.

[hollyroller@gmail.com]

State Hwy. I thought it was CA 85.

[Bobby]

Like Big Joe Biden says, come on man.
If the tree was a nuisance in your backyard you would want it removed, eh?