In the July 29 Letters, a City Hall spokesman doubts Ben Joravsky’s statement–in a July 15 Neighborhood News story about a citizen exposing the damage that asphalt machines inflict on trees–that “‘many’ environmentalists disparage Mayor Daley’s tree-planting efforts.” Terry Levin, the Streets and San man at the spin doctor wheel, is entitled to an opinion, albeit wrong.
At an enviro Christmas party in 1992, the entertainment included a quiz show. One question was something like “name the Mayor’s top five environmental concerns.” The answer–“trees, trees, trees, trees, trees”–got a roomful of yuks.
You’d have to be breathing asphalt fumes (the birdbrained have enough sense to fly away), or be paid to posture otherwise, to not understand why enviros do disparage Daley’s tree thing. No doubt, it’s well-intentioned; clearly, it’s a good thing. Unfortunately, all the tree planting seems like subterfuge for none of the ecological principles that shape the Daley administration’s strategy for perpetuating itself.
Robert Heuer
N. Richmond