Trees in KC (ongoing)

KC topics that don't fit anywhere else.
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TheLastGentleman
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by TheLastGentleman »

It would help if our Boulevards, Avenues, Parkways, ect, actually looked how the names would suggest.

Beautiful Broadway "Boulevard" for instance

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FangKC
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by FangKC »

Look at this public housing complex.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1009279 ... a=!3m1!1e3
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FangKC
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by FangKC »

Look at this public housing complex.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1009279 ... a=!3m1!1e3

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.102194, ... a=!3m1!1e3

And the streetscape in this one.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.113008, ... 384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.1122515 ... a=!3m1!1e3

And this long strip along Truman Road at Grove Park with no trees in a location that certainly should be lined with trees on both sides of that sidewalk.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0946073 ... 384!8i8192

And I've never understood why they don't plant more trees in Swope Park.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.008569, ... a=!3m1!1e3
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by flyingember »

FangKC wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 4:00 am
And I've never understood why they don't plant more trees in Swope Park.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.008569, ... a=!3m1!1e3
I had to pass by Swope daily for one job.

There’s parts of the lawn that can’t be used because they don’t mow regularly, it gets too tall to use.

Then every few months the city spent days of labor, fuel and equipment wear mowing it. but they left the grass and it turned brown meaning you couldn’t use the law still.

The giant lawn is such a huge waste of money as a result. Planting trees and letting the grass die just in the NW corner (west of the community center) alone would be an improvement.
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by earthling »

Need a private sector 'plant your own trees' campaign, with recommendations to enhance optimal canopy coverage and best storm resistant trees. Maybe require a % of sidewalk and/or property trees with any new downtown projects that request incentives as well?
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by Riverite »

I’m absolutely down for a requirement if they ask for incentives.
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by flyingember »

Just have a landscaping fee for new projects and renovations. The project provides the space to put the trees and shrubs. Then the city has a per project tree contract where a landscaping company plants and maintain the trees and shrubs for the first year to get them established. They replace any trees that die within a certain period of time too.

Developers get out of the business of plants in the row which benefits them.
And the city has a single point of contact on greening up the city instead of needing to chase this on every individual project.
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by moderne »

I got swift action from the city to remove a street tree green ash that had signs of emerald borer infestation. It really was not as bad as I exaggerated it to be but then the squeaky wheel thing. The crew that took the tree down just felled the entire thing onto the street. The stump removal not so great as they just left the void in the ground filled with wood chips, so I will have to have some top soil put in.
There is not an aggressive program of arbor care with KC Parks. There are many parks such as Troost Park with an impressive collection of century+ old trees but little in the way of replacement tree planting so there will be something to replace the giants. Troost Park has a notable group of large conifers(conifers are difficult in KC climate).
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FangKC
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by FangKC »

Yes. A lot of the parks have big trees in really bad shape.

The City needs a youth job corps-type situation where they pay young people needing jobs to plant trees in many of the urban parks, and along grassy areas next to streets.

Of course, you need Parks & Rec. to have enough funding to pay staff to go around with those watering units to make sure the trees at least get watered in the first couple of years.

The problem with the youth corps idea though it that most of it would be done in the summer months when they are out of school, and summer is the worst time to plant trees if you want any decent rate of survival.

Many companies have programs where they will send their employees out to do charitable projects that benefit the community instead of being at work that day. This would be a good situation to do that.

The City also needs to up the ante with getting property owners to plant and maintain street trees along sidewalks in residential neighborhoods. I believe the City has a program where they will provide the trees, and even the watering bags, if the property owner fronting the tree will just agree to fill the water bag.
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by KCKev »

How about artificial solar trees downtown to power the air conditioners of the new towers to eliminate the urban heat island effect?
Throw in some natural trees along the way and have the best of both worlds.
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chaglang
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by chaglang »

Maybe offer developers a reduction in the parkland dedication fee in exchange for adding trees to their projects.
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by flyingember »

It's worth pointing out that current city code requires a row of trees or bushes or (I think) a short wall between a brand new parking lot, or a full repaving, and the street.

Thus street fronting parking lots technically can't be repaved to the same size they are today.

If it's enforced is up in the air, it's new enough to not have much impact yet. I know the city let one small parking expansion get away with not doing this downtown.
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FangKC
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by FangKC »

Street trees: A wonder of climate adaptation
Street trees have many benefits, but their climate impact is becoming more important all the time.

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2021/1 ... adaptation
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by moderne »

What effect will climate change have on our urban forest? Kansas City is already on the western edge of the eastern deciduous forest. Go 1000 miles east and the trees just get bigger. Go 100 miles west and the only trees are a few cottonwoods along creeks.
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by moderne »

Ten white oak trees planted recently on Paseo between 28th and 30th. Another 143 scheduled to be planted in major effort to reforest Paseo.
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slimwhitman
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by slimwhitman »

moderne wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 12:25 pm Ten white oak trees planted recently on Paseo between 28th and 30th. Another 143 scheduled to be planted in major effort to reforest Paseo.
Good effort. Ward Parkway got trees like this a decade ago. Watch the trees disappear, though. A majority of new tree or shrub plantings I have witnessed on the east side slowly vanish over the first couple years. Not due to death, but due to theft. I have been amazed at the frequency it happens.
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AlkaliAxel
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by AlkaliAxel »

I really wish we’d be planting trees like that on streets everywhere.

A friend of mine from out of town, a few years ago, we were driving down Ward Parkway where the trees overhang the road down the whole stretch like a tunnel almost. It was Fall and the leaves were golden, and he thought the it was one of the coolest things he’d seen with the Golden leaves hanging over the road like a tunnel while we drove through. I really wish we’d take advantage of this and keep doing more overhanging trees on the big roads. It can look great.
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rxlexi
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by rxlexi »

AlkaliAxel wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:06 pm I really wish we’d be planting trees like that on streets everywhere.
Totally agree. Street trees add such beauty, property value, and walkability (indirectly via shade, slower traffic near them, etc.) that I feel like a major reforesting effort should be among the absolute priority projects for central KC. As a city built around single family homes, a classic park system and broad green boulevards it seems like a no-brainer. I suppose an argument could be made that beyond the initial cost, just keeping them healthy for the first few years may be too challenging...

Especially within commercial districts older trees are so often removed in KC; I assume this happens similarly often in other cities due to utility concerns, cracked sidewalks and the like, but it's frustrating (thinking central Plaza shops, Brookside shops, Delaware Street in City Market, etc.).
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by shinatoo »

Speaking of stolen trees, all the trees on the St Teresa's campus are stolen. They were all out at Swope Park ready for planting and a man stole a truck load of them. He took them to the newly built St. Teresa's campus at Main and 55th and offered to sell them at a discount to a nun working there.

A couple of days later the police showed up and questioned her. Apparently really shook her up. The parks department opted not to press charges and let them stay where they were planted.

I didn't do it justice but always liked that story.
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AlkaliAxel
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Re: Trees in KC (ongoing)

Post by AlkaliAxel »

shinatoo wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 4:29 pm Speaking of stolen trees, all the trees on the St Teresa's campus are stolen. They were all out at Swope Park ready for planting and a man stole a truck load of them. He took them to the newly built St. Teresa's campus at Main and 55th and offered to sell them at a discount to a nun working there.

A couple of days later the police showed up and questioned her. Apparently really shook her up. The parks department opted not to press charges and let them stay where they were planted.

I didn't do it justice but always liked that story.
Who the hell steals tree's :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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