Received a response re Active Citizen and stumps
This autumn, we submitted several requests via Active Citizen to restore trees that had been removed. We are talking about spots on our streets where lonely stumps have sat for years—places that really need to be replanted, yet nobody does it.
The replies in the app were all carbon copies: no irrigation pipes, no plans, we aren't planting anything.
However, this contradicts several decisions made by the Council of Elders—which are effectively city laws. We wrote a letter to the Municipality asking them to intervene, but the response was basically: we’ll plant when we plant, perhaps when laying new pipes, but no promises.
This implies that spot replacement isn't part of the Municipality’s plans—only mass replacement is. Laying new pipes usually causes severe root damage, leading to the death and replacement of trees anyway. Or, the pipe installation and tree replacement happen simultaneously, causing the local environment to degrade for 10–15 years, just like on Tumanyan Street.
Obviously, this shouldn't be the case. There needs to be a working protocol for the spot replacement of individual trees. The lack of a water main doesn't make planting impossible: there are watering bags and water trucks—the irrigation issue is totally solvable.
We are going to keep trying to get this message through to the Municipality.