Background: Over the last year,five historic Elm treeswereremovedfrom the Omaha

Avenuemedianstrip that runs from RosaParksWay to Killingsworth StreetinNorth

Portland. Threeof the five fiees camsdown Septembergth with no notice or explanation
from the city causingshockand devastationamongresidents. Soonthe neighborhood
learnedevenworsenews: the City of Portlandhad no intention of replacingany of the
freesremoved. This annomeementpromptedtheOmahaeommtmitytotake action. fue
neighbor,Julia Unangst,circulatedinformation shelearnedfrom conversationswith
Urban Forestryandthe PortlandBureauof Transportation'sMaintenanceOffice. Below
you will find her email correspondencewith neighbors,the Mayor's office, and othercily
workersinvolved.

Emails to date:

Scptember10"2009

DearNeighbors,

I contactedthe Urban Forestryand spokewith a fewdifferent people. F{ereis what I

found out:

. Medianstrips aremanagedby the PortlandBureauof Transportation'sBureauof

Maintenance(BOM). The BOM fundsthe removalandreplacementof treeson our
median. The Urban Forestryteststhe treesfor Dutch Elm Disease,recommends
removal,andthen is paidby BOM to removethe trees. PBOT antl BOM areunder
Mayor SamAdams'jurisdiction.
. I spokewithe PeterWojiciki a managerin the Bureauof Maintenanceand askedif
thereis a replantingschedulefor the 5 treesthat wereremovedfrom our sectionof the
block. As far ashe knows,thereareno plansto replaceANY of the treesremoved.
Aocordingtq him, they areunderbudgetconstraintsandcannotsupportthe cost of
planting new treesandmaintainingthem for their first threeyearsof life. He is going
to contacthis supervisor,I"arry Stevens,beforegiving me a final answeron this.
. Rob Crouchat the Urban Foresfiryestimatesthat it would cost approximately$150&
1800for UrbanForestryto replaceeachtree.
. Rob agreedthat going forward,the Urban Forestrywill placea noticeon any treesthat
havebeenapprovedfor removalso we are awareof which treeswill be cut down
beforeit occurs. We are alsofree to call Gary Hill or Autumn Montegnato find out
what othertreeshavebeentestedandare due for removal.

I plan to follow up with Peterand Larry at the Bureauof Maintenance.Dependingon

their response,I am readyto takethis to Mayor SamAdams. Pleasefeel free to stopby
our houseif you haveideasand/oremail me.

Julia Unangst
September14,2A09

DearNeighbors,

I havelearnedquite bit aboutour mediansifirationinthe last few days. Hereis a list of

importantstuffyou might like to know:

. I spokewith Autumn at Urban Forestrywho surveysour tees. Shevisits OmahaAve

every l-2 weekscheckingfor "flagging," or deadleaves. The threetreesthat came
down were all testedfor Dutch Elm disease.Two camebackpositive, one did not.
When shesubmittedthe resultsto her supervisor,the decisionwasmadeto removeall
three. While shehadno part in makingthis decision,shesaidthe treethat did not test
Basitivedid showsignsof infeetron
. No othertreeson Omahaweretestedor appearto be infected.

' Omahatreesare on a 3-yearinoculationcycle. They are given a sort of flu shot for
Dutch Elm disease.As we haveseen,it doesnot alwayswork.

. Accordingto Gary Hill at UF, the remainingtree stumpsshouldbe removedin l-2

weeks. He is submittingthe work ordertoday. This is importantsinceno new fees
canbe planteduntil thosearegone.

. Peterat BOM got confirmationfrom his supervisorLarry Stevensthat the treeswill not
be replaced.He gaveme this info via voicemailandnow I can'tget ahold of him.

. The consensusamongthoseat Urban Forestryis that we will needto replacethe trees

ourselves.No fundsarecomingout of PBOT for this cause,at leastnot for a while.
This also includeswateringthe new treesuntil they areestablished.Yet, they agree
that we shouldNOT assumelong term responsibilityfor the median. This is public
propertyandPBOT needsto setasidefunds in their budgetto carefor our median.
While they suggestwe replaeethe trees(if that is what our neighborhoodagre€sto do),
we shouldkeeppressureon PBOT andthe Mayor's office until enoughfunds are
allocatedto our medians. (Omahais not alone. Apparentlythe Ainsworth median
looksevenworse).

. In orderto plant treesourselves,we will needto obtain a treepermit from UF. They
will give us someguidanceon species,spacing,etc.

. UrbanForesfirywill lend us waterbags,as Mike mentionodbofore,but we needto

initiate this and setthem up ourselves.I think we might evenneedto pick them up
from Gary. The waterbagsslowly waterthe treesover l-week time. This preventsthe
roots from growing up towardthe surfaceand helpsthemestablishdeepin the ground.
(UF migtlt be ableto give us somemulch too.)
. They recommendplanting a variety of tees so a diseaselike DED doesn'tobliterateour
entire landscapeall at once.

. I wasunableto get Dan Andersonin the Mayor's office on the phone,but I senthim an
email.fseebelow]

. I calledandspokewith Commissioner JeffCogen'soffice. We needto get stone-

walledby the Mayor'sofftce beforethey will get involved.

I spokewith Howardat6424,Dan at 64l5,and Erika at6435but havenot heardfrom

anyoneelseon our street. I think we might needto meetasa neighborhoodto discuss
whetheror not memberswant to replacethesetreestogsther. This could includea
frrndraiserto help subsidizethe costs..I don't assumeanyonehasnew treesbuilt into their
budget.

The Urban Forestryrecommendedthat I attendtheir Tree Stewardtralning that beginsat \

the endof this month. Unfortunately,I am unableto attend. If anyoneelseis interested,
it soundslike a greatclass. Here is a link to the info:
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/index.cfrn?c:4 5124.

Thanks,
Julia

Email from Aufumn Montegna,Urban X'orestOutreach Coordinator & EIm

Monitor:

From: Autumn Montegna

To: JuliaUnangst
Date:Tue,15Sep200909:05:,25=4700
Subject:RE: OmahaElm Trees

Hi Julia

I just spokewith Gary Hill {Urban ForestryCrew Boss). He saidthat he talked with you
yesterday.I just wantedto let you know that I am still looking into different resources
andwaysthat City Nature canparbrerwith your neighborhood..Forinstance,City Natue
hasa Youth Conservationgroupduring the summerthat helpswater andmulch newly
plantedCity trees,maybeoneway we might be ableto he$ is in tree establishment.In
the meantime, it might be beneficialto havea neighborhoodmeetingto further discuss
an actionplan andor waysthat city nafurecanhelp.
 Also, Friendsof Treesis a greatresourceI havebeenworking with GregTudor on our
NeighborhoodTree Stewardprogftrmandhe would be a greatcontactto get more
information.

GregTudor
Volunteer& OutreachCoordinator
Friendsof Tree,s
3l 17NE ML King Jr Blvd
Portland,OR972l2
503-?82.8846 ext.12
www.FriendsofTrees.org

Pleasefeel free to coatactme if you haveany questionsor would like to brainstormany

ideas.

Aurumn Montegna '-i

Urban Forest Outreach Coordinator & Elm Monitor
City Nature, [Jrban Forestry
503.7A1.7622
Autumn. Mo nlqgna.@,.ci .p egl and,.or.ug

Emait to the Mayor's Office:

From: Julia lJnangst

Sent:Mond&y,September14,2A094:44 PM
To: Anderson, Dan
Subject: OmahaAve Elm Treesand Median Care

Dear Dan Anderson.

I am writing to you in regardsto the North Portlandsfieet,OmahaAvenue. Over the last

year,we havehad 5 Elm treesremoveddueto Dutch Elm diseaseand seenirrigation and
generalcareofthe propertydecline. After speakingwith severalpeopleat both ttre
Urban Forestryand PBOT'sBureauof Maintenance,our neighborhoodhaslearnedthat
thereareno plansto replantthe heesthat camedown dueto budgetrestrictions. While
we understandthat the deparffientis facedwith very real fiscal consfiaints,ashome
ownersin this neighborhoodand citizenswho careaboutPortland'sinfrastructure,we
cannotacceptthe currentcondition of our median. We arereadyto take action asa
neighborhoodand arenow exploringwayswe canreplacethe treesasa community. The
medianis alreadybeing caredfor by neighborswho mow it regularlyandwater one small
tree.
 Thoughwe will begin assessing the costsandoptionsavailableto us, the long term care
of public propertyshouldnot be left underour charge. From my conversations,I have
learnedthat the decisionto discontinuethe careof our mediansis not a nsw tend, but
onethat hasbeendevelopingfor sometime.As we go forward, I hopeour medians--the
trees,the grsS, and inigation--will be treatedby PBOT like all other integralpartsof our
transportationinfr asmrcfine.

Currently,the downedtreesare affecting23 homeson our block. Shouldthe abrupt

changethat hashappenedto our small sectionaffect all of Omah4 the repercussions
would spreadto the residentsandhomevaluesof morethan 90 homes. Additionally,
OmahaAvenueservesas a popularoutdoorrecreationalspacefor the Arbor Lodgeand
Outlook communities. We haveneighborswho cometo our streetto jog, walk their
dogs,Blay frisbee,pte, It hasalsobecomca thoroughfarefor eyelistsaommutJngto aad
from downtown. We will be forcedto alert all neighborsand usersof this public spaceto
our currentchallengesasa community.

I would like to discussthis issuewith you further. Pleasefeel free to call me at the
following phonenumbers.

-I hopeyour office will workwith us aswe begineffortsto pleserveour neighborhood's

infrastructureandthe quality of life in North Portland.

Thankyou for yorn time,

JuliaUnangst

Responsefrom the Mayor's Office:

From; Ginny.Peckinpaugh@pdxtrans.org
To: Julia Unangst
Date:Tue,15 Sep200910:02:15 -0700
Subjeet:RE: OmahaAve Elm TreesandMedian Carr

DearJulie,

I think youVehad a conversationwith PeterWojcicki in the Bureauof Transportation.

I've receiveda bit more information from SuzanneKahn, GroupManagerfor
MaintenanceOperations,which I thoughtI'd passalong:

"PBOT shareseachneighborhood'sfrustation whentheir expectationsaren'tmet around

maintenanceof hard or greeninfrastructure.And we continueto searchfor the most cost
effectiveand efficient methodswe canto take careof our city, which includesdeveloping
partnershipswith neighborhoodsand othergroups.

In this particularcase,PBOTinvestedover $17,000lastyearinoculatingall the treeson

OmahaAvenueagainstDutch Elm Diseasein hopesof preservingthem. Unforturately,
5 elms and I cherry tree still died. It will-cost apprexiurately$20,000to replacethose.6
hees. This is our entirebudgetfor sfreetarealandscape,which is currentlydedicatedto
dealingwith dangeroustees and foliage.

However,we do recognizethat the neighbors'aestheticconcernsarereal. So we'retrying

to developa parhrershipbetweenthe neighbors,the urbanforesterand Friendsof Treesto
se"eif w.ecan.arrivsat a bettersolution for this neighborhood.

As an aside,the City Council directedall bureausto prioritize their activitiesduring last

year'sbudgetpro€ess.Prioritizing work inevitably leadsto makingtrade-offs,e.g.
$20,000will repairmorethan3@pot holesor replace6 trees. Streetpreservation and
repairwas de.emed the betteruseof resources."

It's not a firn time for crty bureaus,asyou cansee.We all wish we could do more.I hope
the partnershipnetsthe resultsyou desire.

Sincerely,

Ginny P.eckiopaugh

Public Advocate- Transportation

0ffiee of Mayor SamAdms
1221SW FourthAvenue,Suite340
Portland,OR97204
E: ginny.peckinpaugh@ci.portland.or.us
P: 503-823-1384