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description= This blog is a diary of the struggle to save an avenue of significant and beautiful street trees - a struggle that was ultimately unsuccessful. It pitted community volunteers against a toxic council administration and a conservative elected council - and at the end, some of the media and the riot police. It still amazes…;
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sted therein aren t available more soon 1 4thmay 2010 the public voice presentation done at council this week on behalf of the laman street action group was terrific there was a packed gallery listening to fee drelincourt and john de bruyn summarise the charette and discuss the desire of the community as they see it to explore tree maintenance options as well as council s perhaps preferred option of tree removal the gallery were politely vocal in their disagreement of council officers assertion to elected councillors that every option was explored at the charette that was held in march and april one can be hopeful therefore that measures to retain and care for the trees will be canvassed in the report that is to go to council next week it was fantastic to see so many people at the meeting see you all again next tuesday when the report is delivered what happens after that is that the ideas in the document will be put out there for public comment and will be voted on in august 9th may 2010 update in the next couple of weeks newcastle city council will be receiving the report from scape the consultants who coordinated the community consultation process on the laman street civic precinct in march and april back in december 2009 council asked to look at the issue again in may this year at a public voice session of council on tuesday 11th may speakers will address council about the community consultation process as well as about the laman street trees on 18th may the report will be delivered to councillors at the charette the attendees were informed that the process from then on will be that the ideas that came out of the community design process will be put out for public comment and returned to council in august councillors can be proud that such an inclusive process has been offered to the community in which residents can feed back to them their ideas for the future of this important precinct they can also be proud of the risk abatement measures they have taken in laman street which gives council the confidence to view the street as safe so that in the years to come we can work to maintain and improve the health of the trees and preserve the beauty of this important and well loved part of newcastle i ve summarised the report by mr marsden in my latest post it s difficult to reduce this comprehensive document down to 1 page but not impossible see you at the council meeting on tuesday the following is the home page as it appeared before this update with a new picture when newcastle city council decided to rip out the hill s figs in laman street newcastle residents on the whole were appalled and saddened this is especially because of the tragedy that befell tyrrell street before the removal of half the mature trees in that street it was one of the most beautiful streets in the world the equivalent of almost 2 of the population of the newcastle lga signed petitions requesting the council revisit this decision and take their opinions into account this was in the space of three weeks this website is an attempt to give the community a voice what can you do sign the petition this was presented to council in december 2009 but the more names the better contact your councillors their contact details are here how the councillors voted at the rescission motion is available here of course even if a councillor voted to give the trees a reprieve until may does not guarantee that s he will not change her his mind at the next vote so letting them know how you feel is still worthwhile equally if councillors who voted to remove the trees prematurely are made aware could they be more aware of the depth of community feeling against the move it is remotely possible that they will change their mind if you see something around town that worries you eg a sign warning you that a tree is about to be cut down or a playground that is about to lose its play equipment or picnic tables or a pocket park that looks as though it s about to be sold or developed please contact council and tell them your thoughts or contact the media or contact us don t just put up with it 20 4 2010 the first post was and so it begins back in december 09 you could start reading here or you can go to the monthly archive in the right hand bottom corner and find posts that way and pick and choose what to read 18th january 2010 to find the most recent entry in this blog see under recent posts to find a comment you made go the page you were commenting on or look under recent comments double click on any photo to enlarge it if you have any ideas or want to make a contribution email me at lamanfigs gmail com 20th january 2010 look at some sydney pics do they remind you of anywhere 25th jan 2010 this page needs pictures this plane tree at the zoo in paris was planted obviously a long time ago french risk management for a very old tree 30th jan 2010 the laman street action group will be having its first meeting soon consider subscribing to the blog if you want to be made aware of the dates and anything else you need to know consider sending a comment or a piece for inclusion people would love to hear what others think there are huge numbers of people indeed the majority of newcastle people in my opinion who support preserving laman street as a beautiful thoroughfare let your voice be heard 31st jan laman street to be discussed at the council meeting 2nd feb the plan is to have a charade charette in march where all 40 45 newcastle people not including churches the rta art gallery staff etc will have a focus group not called that and be talked at by interact with experts in all sorts of stuff but council officers haven t made up their mind and the trees removal is not a foregone conclusion see today s post 10th feb 2010 council are calling for people to nominate to attend the workshops or to write to them about their vision for the laman street precinct it takes 60 seconds to fill in the form and about the same to email them to keep their hands off the trees cheers 21st feb 2010 on 9th feb i put in a freedom of information request for the radar report that s the investigation done in december that found that the roots were better than council suspected i phoned two arborists to get a copy of this first in january before it was received by council and then in february after it had been received council insisted i could only have it via foi this is in spite of the fact that they claim it s going to be released as part of the information given to newcastle residents in or after the charette i m sorry but i think that s sus why would this whole process not be transparent council can save 450000 if they leave the trees alone that s the alleged cost of removing and replacing the trees that are there i also put in a request for correspondence between mr hewett the council arborist at the time and mr marsden the external arborist as well as a request for details of how much council paid mr marsden for his report not long to go till we get to see the report 28th feb 2010 the council have a team trenching around the roots of the trees again they re filling the holes with sand which cannot possibly be good for such magnificent trees tuesday is the last day council can either release the radar report to me or tell me to jump through more hoops to get it can t wait 12th march i received the radar report but only after much to ing and fro ing 22nd march the charette was as much of a waste of time as i expected a complete whitewash dealt with trees almost not at all i suppose it enabled a few of us to meet again so that was useful memorable comments like newcastle has moved beyond tree preservation and the radar report was inaccurate because it was done in haste and plane trees are diseased an example of this is that the trees go brown in autumn and comments they should have made because that s what they meant almost every fully grown tree you see in newcastle has 26 diseases or root rot or isn t native and is politically incorrect or is damaging the footpath or causing flooding or doesn t go with the trendy new design we have thought up at a committee meeting and it doesn t matter if we chop this stand of figs down that is an important food source for bats because they re clever at finding new food sources just makes you want to throw up 25th march the group fig jam will be holding a post charette meeting in laman street under the fig trees on tuesday 30th march at 4 30pm everyone who wants to save these trees is welcome the trees were discussed at the parks and playgrounds meeting last night and people who went to the charette had a chance to put together a submission doug lithgow from parks and playgrounds will be at the fig jam meeting next week as well 1st april charette post mortem is happening 8th april 9 12 that s a thursday morning it ll be fun oh that s what i said about the charette 9th april 2010 i ve written some thoughts about the charette and about how the audience managed to get the message across that we want to keep our figs for as long as possible it would be a mistake however to think that council s plans to get rid of these figs and all the other mature trees in town have been shelved just because they the plans to remove them get up residents noses and just because they are barbaric watch out 20th april 2010 media release about the plans discussed at the charette about amalgamating the war memorials what happens from now on about the findings at the charette is the consultants deliver a report to council officers on may 1st 2010 council officers will deliver a summary to the charette attendees a report is then sent to councillors on may 18th 2010 some time after this the plan will be put on public exhibition for comment then the council vote probably some time in august 2010 7th may 2010 at next week s council meeting on tuesday 11th may there will be two speakers addressing the councillors about laman street in what is known as public voice the meeting is held in the council chamber on the 2nd floor of the town hall turn to the left when you get to the second floor anyone can attend and you can leave when the part you re interested is finished people come in and out as they like you d be surprised how interesting it is the report from the sydney consultants about the charette was to have been received by council officers on may 1 and distributed to councillors as well as the attendees at the charette i haven t received mine yet have you share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x email a link to a friend opens in new window email 96 responses to about us the blog about newcastle s mature street trees your brother rob says december 21 2009 at 10 59 am reply this is a fantastic website caity you should feel very proud love you erin brokovich crystal cook says january 3 2010 at 7 51 pm reply save fig trees laman is one of the nicest streets in newcastle there are not many beautiful streets like laman in newcastle please dont destroy them suska scobie says january 3 2010 at 9 44 pm reply the fate of the laman street trees reflects the lack of environmental or sustainability intelligence within newcastle city council at the moment for example how could council officers have brought forward a re zoning application for 505 minmi road to councillors on the same night the laman street figs rescission motion came to council given the record of council supporting the green corridor concept the decision by councillors that night reversed 12 years of work to put together a green corridor from the coast to the mountains in the hunter we are working now for a rescission motion for 505 minmi road this land forms part of the last remaining connection between the blue gum hills regional park to hexham swamp and the stockton to watagans green corridor council has a green corridors policy that applies in all 4 wards and councillors should request an urgent briefing the questions must be asked of newcastle council officers given the history of the area then why did council officers recommend re zoning the area in its entirety the laman street trees form an important part of the green corridor they not only provide much needed street shade and beauty they provide food for our native species food that is increasingly scarce given the propensity in our public and private spaces to grow exotics that do not provide food suska this comment has been edited cr ali says january 16 2010 at 11 07 am reply where do the critters go native feral if this habitat that has been encouraged is destroyed city4ster says february 17 2010 at 4 19 pm reply bring in the tree experts from your regional or bigger arborist association or how about teachers in arboriculture let them discuss ways to assess risk and ways to extend the lifespan of urban trees as for who assessed it before where are the reports any good assessment includes soil trunk and canopy assessment using several methods your city arborists may feel justified with their assessment because they are giving an opinion based on priorities from bosses or due to budget constraints they can t do whats needed to make them safe that changes the fight to cost of protection vs cost of removal including all the environmental and social benefits good luck suzanne polglase says february 21 2010 at 10 43 am reply after spending an very pleasant afternoon in civic park yesterday with the backdrop of our wonderful fountain and laman street with our beloved fig trees i find it difficult to understand how council could even entertain the idea of having them removed particularly since it has been discovered that these trees have been now shown to be no threat to life and limb this would change the face of newcastle city for the worst it is probably one of the few areas of inner newcastle that still has beauty and character considering that hunter street is now a dilapidated derelict and ugly space wendy says march 1 2010 at 6 27 am reply i suspect an ulterior motive by newcastle city council and those beautiful figs are in the way of yet another development sydney city council removed some of the figs in the domain perhaps they were spoiling the view from parliament house we need to be planting more trees not removing well established ones land clearing in the last couple of centuries has proved to be detrimental to the environment and most farmers are planting trees rather than removing them maybe council has its head buried in the sand stan judy chen says march 22 2010 at 9 41 pm reply hi caity when and where will the next action group meeting be caity raschke says march 23 2010 at 7 06 am reply i ll let you know soon council are having another session to summarise the twaddle that happened at the charette on april 8 a charette is supposed to include large information sessions that anyone can go to but there hasn t been any indication that that will happen council officers looked elected councillors 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