BURLINGTON –\u00a0Crowds of Burlingtonians gathered Saturday in City Hall Park, the focal point of a six month struggle by local grassroots activists to protect 60% of the trees from coming down to accommodate a new park redesign. Now that the City\u2019s Development Review Board has given the final approval for the plan, the trees that were in the way are finally getting the axe. And those behind the new redesign were celebrating in grand style amidst the park\u2019s colorful flapping banners that proclaimed Burlington\u2019s status as Tree City USA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to make this occasion something that everyone in our diverse community could enjoy,\u201d said Doreen Kraft, Executive Director of Burlington City Arts, and whose office in the BCA Firehouse Galley faces the park.\u00a0\u00a0Kraft, who helped spearhead the effort to \u201cimagine City Hall Park\u201d and promote the redesign, was in her element.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe wanted to do something that really made people aware of the arts opportunities in Burlington. The idea for Swing An Axe For The Arts was a great opportunity to two kill two birds with one stone, if you will,\u201d she said smiling wide for the cameras as she hefted her axe into a flowering crab apple. \u201cAt last, I\u2019ll be able to see the Flynn\u2019s marquee when I peek my head out the door of the BCA without these graceful blossom-covered branches blocking my view.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just lucky my wife is Burlington City Art\u2019s Assistant Director,\u201d piped in Keith Wagner, of Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture, the designer of the new park layout as he struggled to start his chainsaw. \u201cI\u2019ve finally been given the green light to improve this park the way I\u2019ve always dreamed it should be. I can\u2019t wait to upgrade all these trees with new and improved trees 2.0, and then start paving over a third of the park. I\u2019m gonna plant 14 little saplings, and by the time your children have children, those saplings will be big enough to make nice neat little circles of shade for you to sit under. Very neat and clean.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat particular tree is actually perfectly healthy!\u201d shouted new Burlington Arborist V.G. Comai, whose voice was quickly drowned out by a chorus of chainsaws. John Killacky, Executive Director of the Flynn Theater, whose beloved theatrical venue also borders the park, said he felt \u201cjoyous!\u201d when asked for his reaction to the felling of the trees. \u201cFace it, these trees are boring. The crash they make toppling over will be the most drama they\u2019ve ever created. If a tree falls in City Hall Park, does it make a sound? Let’s find out!\u201d he shouted, as he picked up an antique axe proffered by an underling on a silver platter and moved slowly and deliberately toward a stately Princeton Elm.<\/p>\n
Members of Burlington\u2019s homeless community backed slowly away from the axe-swinging proponents of the re-design and sought refuge in a far corner of the park. \u201cWe can still see you,\u201d menaced a member of the crowd who hoisted his screaming chain saw high above his head after his prey, a Silver Linden, crashed to the ground, narrowly missing Mayor Weinberger. \u201cI feel safer already,\u201d crooned a well-heeled patron of the arts as she stepped over a fallen Ginko.<\/p>\n
A close inspection of the hatchets revealed the slogan \u201cThe only good growth is revenue growth!\u201d \u201cGo at it!\u201d called out Austin Hart, Chair of the Development Review Board who had recently given final approval for the park re-design, as the crowd hacked into Japanese Zelkovas and Honey Locusts with abandon. Kraft, Wagner and Killacky looked on approvingly. \u201cIt feels so good to participate in this kind of robust public process,\u201d beamed Kraft.<\/p>\n
Image Credits: Josh Grenler<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"