Kicking the Can
When Money magazine recently
listed Atlanta as the “best place to
live in the U.S.,” it noted, among
other assets, the city’s tree-lined
streets and its arboreal canopy,
described as being, “so dense it’s
been nicknamed ‘the city in a
forest.’” Pro-growth boosters brag
about our tree canopy, while they
are often the same people opposing
meaningful improvements to the
city’s tree protection ordinance.
The Greater Atlanta Home
Builders Association is particularly
vocal in its opposition to tree
protection efforts. Its leaders
complain about red tape and
citizen appeals, while declaring
they will experience economic
hardship — that development in
the city will stop — if any trees are
protected. I’m still laughing. We do
not have to choose between trees
and homes. We can and must have
both.
More than twenty years ago,
the Atlanta City Council passed
a tree ordinance to protect our
city in a forest, that source of
civic pride. Since at least 2014,
if not before, it’s been clear to
anyone paying attention that this
ordinance is not working. For the
past eight years — under three city
administrations — citizens, tree
advocates, developers, bureaucrats,
and elected officials have met,
argued, and drafted proposals
to overhaul the tree ordinance,
currently little more than a pay-
to-play operation. There has
been no progress toward greater
protection.
Tree advocates tell me that
homebuilder representatives have
routinely roadblocked efforts to
develop consensus, yet offer no
constructive suggestions. Kicking
the can down the road is a favorite
ploy of those who simply want
to continue business as usual
and avoid taking responsibility.
Atlanta’s tree ordinance “can” is so
dented from delay and obfuscation
that it’s barely kickable.
The Dickens Administration
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens
has been in office less than a year
and his plate has been full. He
largely inherited this embarrassing
failure to conduct what should
be routine administrative work:
fixing a city ordinance that
governs a program essential to
Atlanta’s brand and prosperity.
Since Dickens was inaugurated,
his staff has secured agreement
on a half dozen tweaks to the
ordinance, currently before the
city council. This is a good step
that should be supported, but it’s
only a baby step. To quote Martin
Luther King, Jr.: “This is no time
to... take the tranquilizing drug of
incrementalism.”
Dickens recently appointed
Jaynee Prince to head the city’s
planning department. With
her past connections to the
development community, she
may know the players in the tree
protection landscape, which could
be helpful. Prince should reach
out to Chandra Farley, the city’s
new chief sustainability officer, to
engage her department’s expertise
in climate solutions for drafting a
new tree ordinance.
The biggest question for me, as I
continue to rake the falling leaves,
is whether Atlanta’s elected leaders
will finally take responsibility.
Are they willing to pass a strong,
enforceable measure to save more
of our leafy companions? Or, will
they join their recent predecessors
as a “nod squad” for developer
rule?
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