MONTROSE TIRZ Public Meeting 10/16, 6:30pm – REGISTER NOW!
Everyone who wants to have input or learn more about the Montrose Blvd project plan needs to attend the 10/16 meeting, either live (ideal) or via zoom. Here is the info and registration link that the TIRZ sent out:
The Montrose TIRZ/RDA will be holding a regular Board Meeting virtually via Zoom and in person at The Montrose Center (401 Branard Street, Houston, Texas, Rooms 106-107) at 6:30 PM on Monday, October 16th, 2023. If you would like to register for the meeting and view the presentation materials. Please click the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkceutrD4vHNP6Jrw729fqwQq8Rjlyy3m5#/registration
If you cannot attend, send your feedback and questions to info@montrosehtx.org and copy us at savemontroseliveoaks@gmail.com so we can also be sure that all input is reflected by the TIRZ.
What else can you do? Please go to our website, sign up for our mailing list and read through the “Learn More” and “Take Action” pages. www.savemontroseliveoaks.com
But the article I recently read said…the trees aren’t healthy…the median trees are all safe…more trees in the other segments will be preserved…the trees in segment one are all ugly anyway…they are going to plant more trees than they take out...
It’s true that Segment One has fewer trees to start with and not all are the most beautiful specimens on the boulevard, but the design of the medians and sidewalks in Segment One sets in concrete (literally) a precedent for the rest of Montrose Blvd. And they are cutting down 57 trees, which is ALL of the trees on both sides of the street. 53 of them are city-ordinance protected.
The plan for the entirety of Montrose Blvd calls for any existing medians to be narrowed by 10 feet (5 feet on each side) and each lane to be narrowed by either 1 or 2 feet. This allows them to bring the curbs in, making way for a" minimum of 6- to 10-foot-wide sidewalk on the west side, and a 10-foot-wide shared-use path (pedestrian/bicyclist facility) along the east side of the corridor."
But the existing trees on both sides of the street are in the way. Also the large canopies of the median trees means that many of them either have to be cut down and replaced, or trimmed severely so that passing trucks and buses will not hit them.
Don’t let the TIRZ and their supporters (some with very questionable logic and motives) lull you into passivity with false reassurances and empty promises. Read their full plan for yourself and think critically about what they are saying. Use the 10/16 meeting to ask incisive questions.
Let us translate some TIRZ-speak for you:
“Opportunity for new trees”
They are taking out old trees at this location hence there is an opportunity to plant new ones.
“Replacement trees”
3.5” pole trees will be planted, with zero plan for how to water them. Pole trees get that nickname because their trunks are the size of a typical sign pole.
“Not optimally located for the pedestrian sidewalk” or likely to be “irrevocably damaged” by the sidewalk construction
These trees are not unhealthy, they are just in the way.
“Median trees will be preserved”
Some median trees will be kept, but:
- The medians are being narrowed by 5 feet on each side, so the trees’ existing canopies are too wide to survive the passing traffic.
- Saving median trees is meaningless from Westheimer to US 59 because there are no medians on that half of Montrose Blvd.
- People don’t walk on the medians. The sidewalk trees provide the most important shade.
“Caliper by caliper” replacement
Large decades-old and century-old oak trees will be replaced with a whole lot of little trees, so it’s even-steven, right?
“Trees having been deleteriously pruned by CenterPoint” so they have to come down
Trees get trimmed around power lines all over Houston, but they grow back. How do we know that? Because they have to keep trimming them every year!
Any tree that survived our summer heat and drought and is still putting out green leaves is a healthy tree. When the power lives are moved back, as is planned for the project, these “disfigured” trees will grow to look nice again. Live oak trees survive our hurricanes, floods, heat and drought. They just can’t seem to survive TIRZ projects.
Last date for public input is October 18! PLEASE COME to the 10/16 meeting in person if at all possible, ready to think critically and ask pointed, important questions!