Letters to the editor

Where is our civic pride?

To the editor:

One Madvac definitely could accomplish more than two cleaners leaning on their brooms. Unfortunately, most of the time the Madvac merely cruises through the city at high speed. Going where?

Last year's debris, leaves, stones and sand still fill the curbs of too many streets of our city. Maybe encouraging property owners to take more pride and people not behaving like savages by throwing their trash anywhere might lighten the workload of City crews. It doesn't have to look like Baghdad.

Don't invite your out-of-town guests during April!

Chris Feise

Chesterfield Avenue

Still no representation in Ottawa

To the editor:

It is indeed disturbing for citizens of Westmount - Ville Marie that since the resignation of Lucienne Robillard in January, we have had no representation in Ottawa.

While the Prime Minister does have until July to call for a by-election, delaying it is inexcusable.

It may be because of Canada's minority government and the possibility of a general election, but a by-election should have been called without delay after Robillard's seat became vacant.

Stanley Baker

De Maisonneuve Boulevard

Tree cutting raises more questions

To the editor:

Following last week's city council meeting, I went back to examine the trees which were recently cut down where the pathway into Summit Park begins close to the small carpark on Summit Circle.

I raised the question because while I do not claim to be an expert I am concerned when trees (just as much as buildings) are demolished for reasons which may be invalid or unjustifiable. Having looked again at the lumber on the ground, the lack of rotten wood is remarkable, even if in places the surface bark has been well weathered in our climate. Also, what or whose standard led to the decision that these trees posed a threat to passersby? The sweeping clearcut of Sunnyside Park two years ago was, despite considerable dismay over its ruthlessness, deemed essential by City Hall, although the wish to enjoy the view again could have been met by removing some of the upper branches of a number of trees, as done elsewhere, but perhaps pollarding is not the local way to do things.

And I still question the removal last year of two large trees which stood at the west end of Sunnyside Park when the cut lumber was rolled down the hill and through the shrubs at the bottom into trucks waiting on Sunnyside (was that wood shredded and returned to the upper park or, considering its value, did the contractor sell it?).

As for Councillor George Bowser's observation that it "would be beyond my comprehension that someone would take a tree down for no reason at all… but I think it's done in good faith by experts," I wish I shared his faith to the same degree because experts, like consultants, are often as wrong in their conclusions as members of the public who do not have their qualifications but who are guided by common sense, are proven to be correct.

Many years ago, after more than a year of study by experts and assorted authorities, City Hall presented a Traffic Plan, which after a well-attended consultation at Victoria Hall, was largely ridiculed for its proposals which were so out of touch with local sentiment that they could have been devised by no less a figure than Sir Humphrey Appleby, whose fame on 'Yes, Minister' was then at its height. Now that the Institute of Expertology has been established in Washington DC (could anywhere else be better?), we should give it more than a passing thought. However, as a final concern, now that the City is about to plant 82 trees on several of the lower streets above Sherbrooke, are all the old ones designated rotten or unsafe for other reasons?

John Johnston

De Maisonneuve Boulevard