Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, Right?
by Cara Gallivan
In the aftermath of last October’s freak snowstorm, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offered Buffalo funding to assist in the removal of damaged trees. More than 4,000 trees were marked for removal this spring and summer, and thousands more were cut down in the months immediately following the storm. Private contractors were the principal recipients of the federal cash. (Money may not grow on trees, but one shouldn’t underestimate their value, as these contractors could surely attest.) The city has lost many trees needlessly—trees that merely needed trimming were instead cut down because the city’s contract with FEMA only provided funds for removal. Now, with thousands of stumps left behind and no money from Uncle Sam to pay for their removal, we might consider how better to handle things next time around. We took to the streets to see what ideas you might have.
Click to watchName: Josh Schlageter
Occupation: Tattoo artist, HOD
Residence: Buffalo
How do you feel about private contractors having been paid federal dollars to remove trees after last October’s storm? I don’t know. I guess you have to get it done somehow. I don’t really know how it works exactly, but whatever they had to do to get it done.
What do you think will happen to all the tree stumps? Hopefully they’ll find a good way to recycle them. Maybe they could burn them for fuel or something like that.
What do you think about the fact that a city the size of Buffalo no longer has a forestry department? I guess you can’t predict the future, but having a forestry department would be a good idea to help with up-keep and things like that.
Name: Jonathan Croom
Occupation: Buffalo firefighter
Residence: Buffalo
How do you feel about private contractors having been paid federal dollars to remove trees after last October’s storm? Well, it brought in a lot of workers from all over the place. Here actually they brought in the firefighters also, and we benefited from that. They did a pretty good job. They came in and cleaned up pretty well from what I saw.
What do you think will happen to all the tree stumps? Are the stumps left there? Hopefully it will be given to contractors from Buffalo to create jobs here. But then it’s going to have to come out of the households and private pockets, so that’s definitely not a benefit.
What do you think of the fact that a city the size of Buffalo doesn’t have a forestry department? With the amount of trees that we have—see, Buffalo is known for the beautiful trees that we have here in the city—I would have thought that we should have had a forestry department. And it was sad to see that October storm come. It is a whole change in how the city looks, all those beautiful old trees torn down. We should definitely have a forestry department, and the October storm proves that.
Name: Sarah Dudek
Occupation: Assistant manager, Lexington Co-op
Residence: Buffalo
How do you feel about private contractors having been paid federal dollars to remove trees after last October’s storm? I think that in many ways the whole situation could have been handled better, but I also understand how in an emergency situation sometimes people don’t make the best decisions.
What do you think will happen to all the tree stumps? I think that we can expect to see them around for a long time to come.
What do you think about the fact that a city as large as Buffalo no longer has a forestry department?I think that’s a really unfortunate situation, and I think that a city as beautiful as Buffalo, we should be investing money in keeping it that way. We need a forestry department.
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