Can someone please explain to me WTH is wrong w/ Salcedo?

[Funnyyale26]

As many of you know, the ayuntamiento is cutting down on old trees of the city of Santo Domingo. The reason behind this, is that many of the trees seem to be cracking the pavements. I understand that if this is the case and it has put in danger the lives of the people, ok the old trees should be replaced. But to be replaced with palm trees? Is he nuts>? Palm trees provide no benefits to this city, which is already as hot as an oven. How can a person be so selfish, so senseless, so criminal against the environment when trees are such a valuable resources that provide us w/ oxygen and clean all of the pollution? How can someone be so cruel to cut down what gives shade to dominicans? Why not replaced the neem trees w/ other native arboles frondosos? I don't think there is any reason that can justify this action.

Caramba, this monster should be put to jail!

[Chirimoya]

Because the palm trees are sold by a company owned by the sister of a certain high-ranking personage, so I'm told.

[Funnyyale26]

Originally Posted by Chirimoya

Because the palm trees are sold by a company owned by the sister of a certain high-ranking personage, so I'm told.

You don't understand how sad and how angry I am with this action. As someone that cares for the environment and intends to work to preserve it, I almost feel like crying. I have felt so down for the last couple of days, and the fact that the police is attacking those who protest against this action, (who aren't doing any harm) I am just shocked that the government or other entities are not doing something to stop this. I live in the states, so there is nothing I can do about this.... The only thing that is giving me some hope, is the criticism/ outcry coming from the press. I truly hope that someone in government has a brain and is able to stop this.

What is Max Puig doing about this?

[Hillbilly]

Apart from the obvious idiocy of the whole thing, I saw the vice-sindica on TV the other day and she said that the whole thing was part of a plan to remove trees that would damage sidewalks, or were foreign introductions to the DR or whatever.
Ironically they are installing mature palms (no roots) at the start of the hurricane season......hehehehehe

I remember Parts of San Juan and Río Piedras and Guayana, Puerto Rico with gorgeous big laurels and rubber trees...glorious shade.

I have to agree that this is highly questionable and could well respond to some unscrupulous activity, doncha think??

HB

[laurapasinifan]

I thought I read that the trees are being replaced with "native" trees ie palms trees. As the trees that were being cut down were not native to the island when they were planted.

bob

[Funnyyale26]

Originally Posted by laurapasinifan

I thought I read that the trees are being replaced with "native" trees ie palms trees. As the trees that were being cut down were not native to the island when they were planted.

bob

Did you read my post thoroughly? I don't mind if they have to cut down on trees that are not native and are harming the streets and the sidewalks...the problem is, that given that the city is as hot as it is...the trees should have been replaced with trees that provide shade, palm trees don't provide anything and they just want to make Santo Domingo look like Miami which I think is the most pathetic thing ever. Santo Domingo is Santo Domingo. I am tired of the way that dominicans want to idiolize and copy everything from the US. This has got to be the most senseless act ever and there absolutely no reason to justify this.

[Chip00]

Originally Posted by Funnyyale26

Did you read my post thoroughly? I don't mind if they have to cut down on trees that are not native and are harming the streets and the sidewalks...the problem is, that given that the city is as hot as it is...the trees should have been replaced with trees that provide shade, palm trees don't provide anything and they just want to make Santo Domingo look like Miami which I think is the most pathetic thing ever. Santo Domingo is Santo Domingo. I am tired of the way that dominicans want to idiolize and copy everything from the US. This has got to be the most senseless act ever and there absolutely no reason to justify this.

FYI it isn't easy as you think to cut down trees in most cities in Florida - I know this is part of my job.

What you can do to be part if change IMO is let them know that many of these trees can be saved AND not damage the existing infrastructure with proper root pruning practices. Let them know that you know somebody(me) who will give them a free class on how to do it.

This isn't actually my expertise but I have a frien who knows this very well and can explain it to me for sure.

Conversly, if the mayor doesn't give a shyte call Listin and tell them that they are cutting down trees needlessly as there is an alternative that still won't damage the infrastructure in the future.

suerte

[NALs]

Originally Posted by laurapasinifan

I thought I read that the trees are being replaced with "native" trees ie palms trees. As the trees that were being cut down were not native to the island when they were planted.

bob

Not all palm trees are native to the island (for example Date Palms -the ones along Winston Churchill Avenue comes to mind-, Saw Palmettos -the palmettos which have spines similar to the ones a typical Rose flower has, etc). However, the authorities seem to have an affinity for the Royal Palm which is native to the island.

The positives about palms, particularly native palms like the Palma Real or the Hispaniolan Palmetto (the one that has a blue tint rather than green) and hundreds of other types is that they provide a luxurious tropical natural beauty to the avenues and cityscape. Americans know very well that palm trees equals money in the tourist trade, which explains the ridiculous number of palms and the ridiculous amount of money devoted to replacing fallen palms along roads and such in places like Florida. You can tell most of the palms in Florida are not native because the moment you drive away from civilization what you will notice is mostly pine trees, giant oaks with Spanish moss, and cabbage Palmettos. If the plans to turn Santo Domingo into a major destination continue to go forward (the authorities have already attracted a major cruiseline to use the Santo Domingo port as homeport as part of this plan), then the planting of more palms in the city is a given, especially if the target market is North America and much of Western Europe.

In anycase, palm trees fare much better in tropical storms because the trees poses little resistance to the fearce winds, unlike other types of trees, especially non-native trees like Poincianas (ie. Flanboyán, etc) which are not only messy after a storm, but poses a threat to the safety of people and property as branches are broken and flown, they may fall causing damage to property, etc. Overall, palms are better designed to survive tropical storms than are most other trees.

Of the non-palm trees which are native to the Caribbean region, they tend to lose their leaves quite easily in a tropical storm, which reduces the amount of resistance to fearce winds and thus, makes the tree fare better such storms; unlike introduced species which are the trees that causes the most damage to themselves and to property/people in such storms.

But, as Hillbilly said, it only works if the tree has a well developed root system. Until then, well....

The negatives of palm trees is that they don't really produce much shade, unless they grow in clumps and Coconut palms poses a threat during storms with their oversized nuts often times becoming lose and flying through the air like a canon and causing tremendous damage. Other than that, I don't see other negatives of the trees, particularly native trees.

Well, the only other problem could be a lack of diversity in the trees being planted. If a disease that attacks such trees sweeps through Santo Domingo... well that could be a problem not just for the cityscape, but for much of the country since few places on the island doesn't have at least a few Royal Palms growing somewhere.

-NALs

[NALs]

Originally Posted by Funnyyale26

Did you read my post thoroughly? I don't mind if they have to cut down on trees that are not native and are harming the streets and the sidewalks...the problem is, that given that the city is as hot as it is...the trees should have been replaced with trees that provide shade, palm trees don't provide anything and they just want to make Santo Domingo look like Miami which I think is the most pathetic thing ever. Santo Domingo is Santo Domingo. I am tired of the way that dominicans want to idiolize and copy everything from the US. This has got to be the most senseless act ever and there absolutely no reason to justify this.

Well, Miami is seen as the civilized version of what a tropical Latin American city should look like, so it will be copied from Cancun, Mexico to Punta del Este, Uruguay. It's the "in" thing to do.

Dominicans are not the only ones.

In NYC avenues such as Broadway, Park Avenue, etc were developed in an attempt of immitating Paris. In those times, straight tree-lined roads with an iconic structure at the end was invented in France, which was considered the wealthiest, most civilized, and most admired country on earth at that time. In fact, French was a sort of lingua franca and anything french pretty much was copied everywhere. Soon enough, even American cities began to incorporate french style avenues and urban development (think of the frenchman Corbesieur and you can see how his ideas influenced US urban development to a greater extent many Americans are willing to accept).

In fact, Washington DC is entirely modeled after Paris. The city has an un-American feel with plenty of rotondas, diagonal boulevards, etc. Even the naming of the streets is un-American given that the city is divided into four quadrants and different streets in each quadrant can have the same name. Thus, in Washington DC if you are looking for XYZ street, there is a very real possibility that there are four XYZ streets which are not remotely close or connected to each other, but yet exist within the city limits. Anything French was consider modern, progressive, top of the line... worthy of immitating.

Its actually kind of funny to see SOME Americans dislike anything French when so much French influence has affected the US in more ways than simple urban development, but that's another story alltogether.

My point is that the copying is nothing new, is nothing unique to the DR, and it should be expected.

Anyone who feels sick about this should read some history books with the intention of seeking similarities between how societies function today versus yesteryear. You will find that not much has changed and people whom you think of as innovators today were once copy-cats too.

-NALs

[Mirador]

Late last year, I was evicted from my previous apartment for falling behind on my rent. Actually, I was invited to vacate the premises in the most civilized manner. Understandably, considering that my landlord did not hold title to the property, plus I had not signed any lease papers. Around the same time, an elderly cousin who lived alone in a nearby apartment in the neighborhood, suffered a stroke, and her brother, also my cousin, took her into his home to take care of her. I was allowed to use her apartment free of charge. Now, getting to the point. In front of the building there's a cherry tree, which is almost always blooming with bright red delicious cheries, and there's people always milling about picking the cherries. In one of her frequent visits to her apartment, my convalescent elderly cousin, now in much better health, mentioned that many years ago she had planted the cherry tree herself on the sidewalk facing Sarasota Avenue...