I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree,A tree whose hungry mouth is prest, against the earth’s sweet flowing breast,A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray;A tree that may in Summer wear, a nest of robins in her hair;Upon whose bosom snow has lain; who intimately lives with rain.Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.I have come to greatly appreciate the service of Common Sense Calgary, an organization that watches the goings on at City Hall and reports the more egregious sins to me and their other readers. If it weren’t for this organization’s willingness to follow the comings and goings of our municipal betters, I would have to spend my time doing so. And in doing so, I would spend two hours a day vibrating in anger at the stupid things being proposed. I know it would vex me, I just do.This week’s reporting from the service seemed to be predominantly about trees. Joyce Kilmer the tree poet would have been pleased. I don’t know if Mr. Kilmer was as libertarian in his views about government as me but we share the notion that fools like me can’t make trees. (Yes, Joyce is a guy.)We happily leave that to God. Nevertheless, I feel I need to speak out against the proposal by Terry Wong that we Calgarians should follow the lead of “many other Canadian cities.” Mr. Wong wants me to include City Hall in the disposition of the trees on my property. I don’t want Mr. Wong or anyone else at City Hall dictating to me what I can and cannot do with the trees in my yard. Heavy emphasis on “my yard.” Note, it is not Mr. Wong’s yard or the City of Calgary’s yard. It is my yard as are the trees contained within. And what happens to the trees in my yard is entirely between God, the tree and me. Mr. Wong, how about you go against the flow of “many other Canadian cities” and work on ways to reduce the development costs in Calgary? How about you look for ways to stay out of my life and get your hand out of my pocket? Then I won’t vibrate so much.Doesn’t Mr. Wong know that the last thing Calgarians should do is follow the lead of “many other Canadian cities?” This is precisely the last thing we should do. So right off the jump I am starting to vibrate.The very next paragraph of the weekly missive from Common Sense Calgary describes how things have come to such a turn at the new event center that it necessitates the removal of a 125-year-old tree. So, the city would stop me from removing my trees for whatever aesthetic reasons they might have, yet are perfectly willing to uproot the poor American elm due to its competition with an event center — whatever in the world that is. But they will preserve the legacy of the hapless tree through a digital scan or a cutting. You can’t make this stuff up.When the University District was created a few years ago a veritable forest was laid down at the hands of happy tree fallers. I don’t remember being asked for my views on the matter. Just prior to that, when the city built its toilet bowl sediment pond where the Klippert Concrete plant had been in Bowmont Park, (a sad day in the life of this engineer) they erected a large sign warning park visitors against cutting down trees. The advisory certainly curbed my often-uncontrollable desire to randomly cut down trees in the park. What I found quite funny though was they had to move the sign — more than once — because they cut down the trees which held the sign. So who has the irresistible urge to cut down trees?I think the city councillors need fewer lessons on DEI and a lot more on the differences between private property rights and public interest decision-making. When the city pays half the cost of tree care and removal on my property then they may have a say on what happens to said trees. In return I won’t protest their clear cutting of new development areas.Until then… sorry Mr. Wong… butt out.
I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree,A tree whose hungry mouth is prest, against the earth’s sweet flowing breast,A tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray;A tree that may in Summer wear, a nest of robins in her hair;Upon whose bosom snow has lain; who intimately lives with rain.Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.I have come to greatly appreciate the service of Common Sense Calgary, an organization that watches the goings on at City Hall and reports the more egregious sins to me and their other readers. If it weren’t for this organization’s willingness to follow the comings and goings of our municipal betters, I would have to spend my time doing so. And in doing so, I would spend two hours a day vibrating in anger at the stupid things being proposed. I know it would vex me, I just do.This week’s reporting from the service seemed to be predominantly about trees. Joyce Kilmer the tree poet would have been pleased. I don’t know if Mr. Kilmer was as libertarian in his views about government as me but we share the notion that fools like me can’t make trees. (Yes, Joyce is a guy.)We happily leave that to God. Nevertheless, I feel I need to speak out against the proposal by Terry Wong that we Calgarians should follow the lead of “many other Canadian cities.” Mr. Wong wants me to include City Hall in the disposition of the trees on my property. I don’t want Mr. Wong or anyone else at City Hall dictating to me what I can and cannot do with the trees in my yard. Heavy emphasis on “my yard.” Note, it is not Mr. Wong’s yard or the City of Calgary’s yard. It is my yard as are the trees contained within. And what happens to the trees in my yard is entirely between God, the tree and me. Mr. Wong, how about you go against the flow of “many other Canadian cities” and work on ways to reduce the development costs in Calgary? How about you look for ways to stay out of my life and get your hand out of my pocket? Then I won’t vibrate so much.Doesn’t Mr. Wong know that the last thing Calgarians should do is follow the lead of “many other Canadian cities?” This is precisely the last thing we should do. So right off the jump I am starting to vibrate.The very next paragraph of the weekly missive from Common Sense Calgary describes how things have come to such a turn at the new event center that it necessitates the removal of a 125-year-old tree. So, the city would stop me from removing my trees for whatever aesthetic reasons they might have, yet are perfectly willing to uproot the poor American elm due to its competition with an event center — whatever in the world that is. But they will preserve the legacy of the hapless tree through a digital scan or a cutting. You can’t make this stuff up.When the University District was created a few years ago a veritable forest was laid down at the hands of happy tree fallers. I don’t remember being asked for my views on the matter. Just prior to that, when the city built its toilet bowl sediment pond where the Klippert Concrete plant had been in Bowmont Park, (a sad day in the life of this engineer) they erected a large sign warning park visitors against cutting down trees. The advisory certainly curbed my often-uncontrollable desire to randomly cut down trees in the park. What I found quite funny though was they had to move the sign — more than once — because they cut down the trees which held the sign. So who has the irresistible urge to cut down trees?I think the city councillors need fewer lessons on DEI and a lot more on the differences between private property rights and public interest decision-making. When the city pays half the cost of tree care and removal on my property then they may have a say on what happens to said trees. In return I won’t protest their clear cutting of new development areas.Until then… sorry Mr. Wong… butt out.
