I was delighted to read the article about Cal Poly and Cal Fire teaming up to give the state of California more shade trees (“Cal Poly partners with Cal Fire to bring more trees to disadvantaged California communities,” Dec. 5).
“Trees provide people with all kinds of epic ecosystem services. They provide shade—so the temperature can be 10 degrees cooler if you’re in the shade of a tree versus not,” Cal Poly biology sciences professor Jenn Yost told New Times. “They do stormwater mitigation … they provide clean air, they provide habitats for animals.”
Yet when many of the citizens of SLO County brought this up in regards to the Dana Reserve project, we were just ignored.
I have been back in the area for five years, and I have seen lots of trees lost during that period. We need those full-grown trees, and the warmer our climate gets, the more we are going to need them. What Cal Poly and Cal Fire have come up with is great, but it’s not rocket science—there have never been enough trees in the poorer sections of towns, and California has always had some concrete jungles with almost no trees. And guess who lives in those areas? Those with the lowest incomes. Once again, I am always happy to see someone championing trees and a good shade canopy, but it sounds like a lot of the program for Cal Poly and Cal Fire is research and computer work, not the actual planting and caring for trees. What about if we started teaching environmental science and a love of trees in elementary school?
I also have to agree with Richard Schmidt regarding the loss of safe pedestrian crossings for seniors and others near the Villages and Ramona Drive (“SLO has forgotten about its senior and disabled pedestrians,” Dec. 5). I drive the Chorro corridor quite often to end up at California Fresh, and I have watched this change and wondered why it happened. I see nothing from the city of SLO indicating a love for senior citizens or the low-income. If they cared about all of us, they would have made all downtown parking free from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. And they might be out walking, trying out some of these areas they have changed.
Sharon Roberts
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Dec 19-29, 2024.