The Lost Oaks of California Ave • Hacker News Board

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#21

Post by hristov » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:26 PM UTC

Yeah this is really bad. First of all too many people have the silly idea that you can move trees around as if they are pieces of furniture or large heavy pieces of sculpture. "Oh lets get rid of these trees and put in different ones. Won't this be grand!" Moving trees is always tricky and not assured of success. When they get those new maple trees in california ave, I am sure that at least a couple of them will die and then they won't have equal height trees.

As far as the trees being diseased, all city trees are unhealthy in one way or another. That is because their leaves absorb all kinds of exhaust byproducts, most of their roots are below concrete where they cannot get water or nutrients, and a hundred other reasons. Cities are just not healthy places for trees.

But that does not mean that we should not have trees in cities. Trees make us feel better, clear up the air for us and make us happier in general. What if a tree is not healthy -- it is not actually suffering and cannot pass the disease to humans. As long as it looks good and it is green, it is serving its purpose. I guarantee you that the new maples they put in will become diseased pretty soon.

So, good idea to call attention to this Paul, but someone should have thought of it earlier.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#22

Post by TriinT » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:29 PM UTC

supahfly_remix wrote: post #17

It might be sacrilegious to ask, but what does this have to do with hacking (other than say, hacking down of oak trees). The fact that it's ranked so highly just goes to show the amount of ass kissing going on here.

It's a herd phenomenon. Even if PG writes something utterly pointless, he gets upvoted to the stratosphere. It would be nice if this changed. Intelligent and successful people like PG don't need this kind of adulation.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#23

Post by pg » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:29 PM UTC

supahfly_remix wrote: post #17

It might be sacrilegious to ask, but what does this have to do with hacking (other than say, hacking down of oak trees). The fact that it's ranked so highly just goes to show the amount of ass kissing going on here.

A lot of HN users are in Silicon Valley, and most people in SV know California Ave. This is the neighborhood Facebook just moved to, among other things.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#24

Post by dfranke » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:30 PM UTC

I can't recall the details any more, but I'm reminded that there's a historic cemetery in Boston, where several of America's founders are buried, where the tombstones have all been moved from their original locations. Someone during the Victorian period decided they'd look nicer if they were all arranged in nice straight rows. Nobody recorded their original positions, so the locations of the remains are now unknown.

So, cutting the trees isn't necessarily a case of corruption. It's at least as likely that CAADA is run by people whose taste really is that poor.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#25

Post by idm » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:33 PM UTC

hedgehog wrote: post #9

I like Cal Ave partly because it's about as close as you can get in this area to my favorite neighborhood in Seattle (15th Ave). A photo I took yesterday while they were taking the last one down: http://openbs.org/photo/wehavenotrees.jpg Quote from the notice they sent out: "The City of Palo Alto Public Works Department ... shall be replacing most of the street trees on Cal Ave ... most of the existing trees are Holl…

The before/after comparison is shocking.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#26

Post by thaumaturgy » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:34 PM UTC

This will have adverse effects on the speed and traffic on that street, too. I've attended a couple of local community seminars on city planning, and studies cited there have found that tree-lined streets tend to cause drivers to drive slower and more cautiously. [1]

[1]: For example: http://www.naturewithin.info/Roadside/Tree&Driver_ITE.pd...

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#27

Post by pg » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:35 PM UTC

n8agrin wrote: post #12

They may have suffered from Sudden Oak Death. My limited understanding is that because the disease spreads erratically they prefer to remove infected trees in order to prevent others from becoming infected, and to prevent damage being caused from the dead, weakened tree. Edit: It appears there is no known cure, only preemptive measures. http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/

At first I thought it might be some kind of serious disease. Why else would they do such a crazy thing? But all the other arguments the city listed, e.g.

"Their branches cover street lights and grow over building storefronts and roofs requiring frequent tree trimming. They bear and drop large acorn fruits that are tripping hazards for pedestrians."

make it clear this wasn't the case. If they were infected by some tree plague, it would have been enough to say just that.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#28

Post by dfranke » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:42 PM UTC

n8agrin wrote: post #12

They may have suffered from Sudden Oak Death. My limited understanding is that because the disease spreads erratically they prefer to remove infected trees in order to prevent others from becoming infected, and to prevent damage being caused from the dead, weakened tree. Edit: It appears there is no known cure, only preemptive measures. http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/

There seems to be a high incidence of Sudden Oak Death in areas populated by aesthetically-impaired bureaucrats. I recommend a study to determine whether they constitute a potential vector for the spread of the disease, and if so, preemptively eradicating them.

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#29

Post by asdlfj2sd33 » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:43 PM UTC

Relevant: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dis...

Re: The Lost Oaks of California Ave

#30

Post by supahfly_remix » Thu, Sep 17, 2009, 10:46 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #23

supahfly_remix wrote: post #17

It might be sacrilegious to ask, but what does this have to do with hacking (other than say, hacking down of oak trees). The fact that it's ranked so highly just goes to show the amount of ass kissing going on here.

A lot of HN users are in Silicon Valley, and most people in SV know California Ave. This is the neighborhood Facebook just moved to, among other things.

I meant nothing towards you. PG's gonna write essays on whatever he wants. I was just pointing out evidence of the adulation/infatuation some of the HN denizens have for you.

BTW I know Calif. Ave. too, I used to eat at Chu's every now and then (the little potsticker hole-in-the-wall shop). Is that still there?