Friends who oppose the wholesale destruction of city trees along Montrose Boulevard:

The Montrose TIRZ will hold its regular monthly meeting on this Monday, September 16, 2024, at 6:30 p.m., at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 1827 W. Alabama Street, Havens Center, Houston, Texas.  I plan to be there, as we know the opposition will likely continue to try to foist the old plan on our new TIRZ board, as though the City would somehow approve narrowing lanes to fit the 10-foot shared-use path it proposed. No walk audit, no drainage plan dictates the destruction of 60 trees that plan mandated in just 2 blocks, with more to follow in the larger second phase. Instead, every week brings new reasons why the mature trees such as live oaks on Montrose Boulevard must stay: the derecho and Beryl tested the live oaks that Joe Webb and Gauge Engineering claimed were unhealthy and dying; not one even lost a significant branch. When I see them, I see typical young adult live oaks – a bit gnarled, not yet majestic, but surviving repeated hurricanes and droughts and still growing.  We all saw the fate of so many younger trees on and around the boulevard – the storms blew them over like they were paper.  

And, as the Houston Chronicle recently editorialized, it’s never been more important to keep and grow our tree canopy, despite the storm damage many of us suffered. Without them, the heat-island effect in our increasingly deforested neighborhoods renders Montrose too hot to live in safely. The lack of shade on Montrose Boulevard sidewalks will make them undesirable and underutilized during the long, hot months of Houston’s climate. Of course, we support renewing the sidewalks to six feet and Montrose Blvd. street improvements, but the Montrose neighborhood has many other needs for the available funds instead of the wasteful aspects of this endeavor. 

Also, do not forget that the entire plan made by the previous board includes closing side-street crossings over Montrose Blvd., thereby pushing traffic into the adjoining neighborhoods.

We don’t need to get into a contest with supporters of the old design for who brings out more supporters – the agenda on the website suggests no substantive update yet on a new design.  But if you want to join some of us who will be there to make sure our position is represented, and to react to any nonsense that emerges from the same folks who claimed that the dozens of live oaks from Allen Parkway to West Clay were dying, we’ll be glad to see you.  Or, get on zoom: register at the website https://montrosehtx.org/calevents/september-2024-meeting/ I registered after the meeting started last time. And, if you are zoom, report back to us whether and what you can hear and see – the board is trying to improve the audio-visuals this time. Thank you for your amazing support!

 Sarah Frazier