Here is the email I sent to Ukiah City Council on Monday, raising additional points beyond the Letter to the Editor.

The Council meeting begins on Wednesday, April 15, at 5:15pm. The agenda can be found at this link: https://ukiahca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/2387/overview

I have recently moved to Pennsylvania and will not be able to attend. The more people who attend, the more the Council will take notice, even if you do not speak during the public comment period.

Thank you all again for your interest and support.

Dennis

Honorable Councilmembers,

My name is Dennis O'Brien. Last fall, in response to reports that the City was considering removal of the Chinese Pistache trees on School Street, I started an online petition to save the trees (see below). The petition was signed by 2,994 residents of Ukiah and nearby locations before outreach was stopped.

On Friday, April 10, the City Manager's office released its "Final Report" on the School Street Project (see below). The Report is seriously flawed. Since you will be meeting next Wednesday to consider accepting the Report, I sent a Letter to the Editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal to alert the public. A copy of that letter is also below. I am writing to you today to highlight some issues that were not included in that letter.

1. Last December I attended a public walk-around and discussion on the Project, hosted by the City Manager's office. Mayor Sher also attended. Whenever someone raised the issue of removal of the existing trees, we were repeatedly told that this was a preliminary study whose sole purpose was to apply for a grant. Everyone at my table was under the impression that creating more space for the new trees would allow keeping the older trees that weren't actually causing damage. That's why we supported that option. But now the Final Report concludes "Therefore, the trees must be removed and replaced." It appears that the earlier statement and the conduct of the outreach meeting were designed to mislead the public and create a sense of complacency.

2. The report describes public outreach and feedback, but does not mention the petition. This ignores strong public sentiment in favor of keeping as many older trees as possible and creates a false narrative of public outreach and acceptance.

3. The assertion that the the older trees must be removed to allow the new trees to grow is unsupported by specific data or scientific reasoning. The new trees will be closer to the street, not directly under the existing canopy. Because School Street runs north-south, the new trees would get nearly as much sun with the older trees present as they would if the adjacent buildings were the only shade.

4. An arborist was present during the walk-around. He and the staff were alerted that an evaluation of each tree was needed prior to any decisions, which the Report seems to support. Yet the Manager's office chose to release its Final Report and conclusion without asking the arborist to evaluate a single tree. If any such evaluation was done, it must be released to the public.

This decision will affect generations of people who are drawn to the beauty of School Street. A clear-cut of the trees is the last thing they want and would blemish Ukiah's reputation as the "City of Trees". Please strike the Report's conclusion and instead require an independent arborist evaluation of each tree so that as many of the older trees as possible can be saved.

Thank you very much for your consideration of this important and far-reaching issue.

Sincerely,

Dennis O'Brien