ELM STREET PROJECT Inspiration: Kunstler's The Long Emergency; The End of Suburbia DVD; An Inconvenient Truth (Plant trees; Drive less, bike more); PlaNYC 2030; transitionculture.org Trees are symbolic of life, growth and legacy. and the tree sitution in Pittsfield is "pathetic," DPW agrees. Removed trees are not being replaced despite a 2/2007 ordinance (unfunded) and any new (non-shade) trees are going to low-income areas to the neglect of other neighborhoods. Pittsfield lost 100s of iconic elms to Dutch elm disease, and has since undergone severe economic dislocation & demoralization from urban removal [sic], rejection of a mall project that went to next town killing downtown anyway; and GE closing in 1987. Middle and upper managers left, leaving PCBS all over the place. Population has dropped from 58,000 to 38,000. Elm Street retail district is almost a mile from downtown, the major arterial through the southeast middle/upper-class residential area, a perfect demonstration model for the possibility of private/public collaboration. This project will make a splash there, raise tree-consciousness and expand PTW’s urban forestry initiative by encouraging others to plant trees on their own. When the City doesn't do it, citizens will have to. Even the councilor who sponsored the tree-replacement ordinance has just planted his own American elm! What we're doing -- * Half-mile of tree-planting * Business Improvement District (BID)-- Enhancement and events * Sunday afternoon car-free Bike & Hike A half-mile linear park in a neighborhood of small (42% sole worker) businesses. There are only 20 existing trees. We propose 16 low-growing trees under wires on the south side, and 13 tree-belt shade trees on the north side, for a total of 29. Final totals may vary per DigSafe findings and fund-raising support. Research shows that people are willing to spend up to 11% more in a tree-lined shopping district. The Elm Street Partnership, which PTW organized, are donating funds. Greg Ward of Ward's Nursery, a board member of Center for Ecological Technology on Elm St., is giving us a price break on trees. Volunteer labor (dig, plant, after-care), including Boy Scout Troop 20, publicity and tools, mulch and transportation from city sources are in place. Five area councilors and Parks & Open Space, DPW and Highway managers are in support. Planting will occur in late April/early May 2011.