Mayor may visit park with imperiled trees
Mayor Michelle Wu “would like to do a walk-thru of Malcolm X Park,” her spokesperson said, where local activists are trying to save 29 of the oldest trees on Honeysuckle Hill, a section designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted’s firm.
No date for the walk-thru has been scheduled, but if she goes, she will likely be with local residents including Derrick Evans, who told the City Council on Monday that the plan to remove the legacy trees as part of an $8 million renovation of the park is a “failure of fiscal responsibility, social equity and climate resilience.” .
“The needless removal of mature canopy trees fails on all three bottom lines,” he said.
Evans said he and other residents are considering filing for a court injunction to stop the trees from being taken down because they filter diesel from buses waiting to
drop off and pick up children at a nearby school, provide shade in the summer and enhance property values.
On Tuesday, a Herald photographer found a large, flowering tree that appeared to be uprooted. But a spokesperson for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department said the tree had fallen down.
The park has 248 trees in all, 54 of which originally were proposed for removal as part of the park’s renovation.
The city’s position is that it’s required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Honeysuckle Hill, the part of the park with the oldest trees, is too steep to be accessible for people who use wheelchairs.
After meeting with residents, the Parks and Recreation Department was able to reduce the number of proposed trees for removal to 29. But Evans and other residents want to save most, if not all, of the trees.