Tree trimming

[The following letter was addressed to the Claremont City Council and City Manager, with a copy forwarded to the COURIER?for publication. —KD]

Dear Editor:

I am writing to urge that the city implement a process whereby tree trimmers must have more training than how to start up a chain saw and avoid falling out of a tree before they are allowed to work in our city.

What has me so concerned is the massacre of the pine trees on the south side of Bonita Avenue between Taylor Drive and Towne Avenue this past week (see attached photos). The name of the tree “service” is Mosis. I did email a note to the city feedback site and called the COURIER to encourage them to look at the devastation, but I wanted to reach you directly as well.

I also called the tree trimming company and was told that they had a permit from the city to do the work. I realize the work was not done on city property, but I hope there is a way that the city can intervene when a permit is requested.

I have heard, and it makes sense to me, that pine trees are weakened by severe pruning, and these trees are practically bare. I hope you will take an opportunity to drive by and look at what has been done to them. They may come back eventually.

I understand from neighbors that cities such as San Marino and Carmel, among others, have strict rules for allowing tree trimmers to operate in their cities. With the loss of trees we experienced last summer, and the sad state of many that remain, it would be wonderful if we would carefully tend to the healthy trees we have left.

Thank you for considering this request.

Ethel Rogers

Claremont

Pine removal on Mountain

Dear Editor:

Claremont’s description as the city of trees and PhDs may not be accurate.  The trees are losing ground.

A street tree on the east side of North Mountain Avenue was cut down. This was a healthy tree. Now there are grand stairs and more cement in its place.

Did the people who had the tree removed have any concern for the neighbors’ right to the quiet enjoyment of the environment? Was there any concern for the values of the community?

Removing a street tree is wrong. It is my hope that a sizeable fine would be levied on the people who had the tree cut down.

The more-than-160-foot pine tree should be replaced by planting a suitably tall replacement. Please have it replaced by a very tall tree at the offending people’s expense. Otherwise, if a 14-foot or less tree and a slap on the wrist are the only deterrents, it seems that anyone whose view might be improved by a street tree’s removal would do so.

Helen Linda Conard

Claremont

Thank you, Wolfe’s Market

Dear Editor:

This letter is way overdue. Wolfe’s recently changed their grocery store to focus on their healthy eating offerings.

I used to head the Scrip gift certificate fundraising program for Sycamore Elementary School, and was fortunate to have the sustained support of Wolfe’s.

Through my years of running Scrip, Wolfe’s was a generous contributor to our school and others in Claremont. Half way through my tenure, all the big box stores halved their offerings to the schools. We had to sell twice as much Scrip to sustain our programs. Wolfe’s never wavered.

Throughout my years of fundraising, Wolfe’s kept their promise to our children and families, helping them financially. And that was just Scrip. I know they helped in other ways as well.

So, as Tom and Shawna Wolfe move to embark on the Ultimate Nutrition establishment and deli, I want to thank them for their dedicated support to our community, and wish them well on their new venture.

Storme Leeb

Claremont

Global warming

Dear Editor:

Vice President Mike Pence is bewildered by the left’s concern with global warming.

The problem, however, is not with why the left has taken up the issue—what needs explanation is why the right refuses to recognize the problem.

Global warming (human-induced climate change) should not be a matter of partisan difference—the well being of the earth and its inhabitants is at stake and a problem of such magnitude should be one that concerns us all, no matter of what political outlook.

However, the right has noticed something: if man-made global warming is occurring and is a threat to the entire earth and its inhabitants, that would mean that in the face of the threat, governments would have to assume greater powers, especially over the economy. And that idea is anathema to the ideology of the right. Hence, Mr. Pence and friends would rather be irrational and deny the thoroughly established facts than surrender their ideology in the face of a need to close ranks and stop the climate change warming is producing.

President Donald Trump, in making the US a rogue state by pulling out of the Paris Accord, gave as the reason that even that modest accord is causing the US economic “wounds,” which is probably false. To stop global warming would require much more extensive changes in our economic system.

Mr. Pence and the right are the ones whose refusal to recognize the way things are is in need of explanation.  And the explanation has to do with the ideological consequences of any attempt to face up to the challenge to the Earth’s well being.

Merrill Ring

Claremont