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Old 05-20-2012, 08:39 AM
 
Location: Charleston, South Carolina
12,764 posts, read 18,578,406 times
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To me trees are paramount. As a person who is interested in cities in general, for some reason I'm pulling for Philadelphia. I took a googlemap online tour of the city and was left wondering whether the canopy is what it should be for optimum beauty compared to say Washington, New York, or Chicago. Can anyone shed some updated light on this topic?

Replant Neighborhood Trees | Philadelphia : The Next Great City
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Old 09-17-2012, 02:22 PM
 
1 posts, read 2,260 times
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You may check for yourself!

[url=http://www.phillytreemap.org/map/]Philly Tree Map - Search[/url]
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Old 11-21-2012, 11:25 PM
 
Location: Macao
16,265 posts, read 43,006,857 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Columbiadata View Post
To me trees are paramount. As a person who is interested in cities in general, for some reason I'm pulling for Philadelphia. I took a googlemap online tour of the city and was left wondering whether the canopy is what it should be for optimum beauty compared to say Washington, New York, or Chicago. Can anyone shed some updated light on this topic?

Replant Neighborhood Trees | Philadelphia : The Next Great City
I have noticed, in South Philly in particular, there is certainly a lack of trees.
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Old 11-22-2012, 07:06 AM
 
Location: Philadelphia, PA
1,567 posts, read 3,103,691 times
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There are areas of the city full of big, beautiful trees, up in the northwest section. Many residential areas in or near Center City have a lot of street trees and are quite pleasant. Much of the city is fairly bare.

About 7 years ago I bought my first house. It was a small row home on a small street in South Philly. The street had no trees. I suggested to my neighbor, an elderly Italian-american woman who grew up in the area, that I was going to plant a tree in front of my house. She was adamantly against it saying the leaves would be a mess and the roots would break up the sidewalk, etc. I never did plant the tree.

Another story. Shortly after I bought the house I attended a meeting of the neighborhood association. When the topic of new initiatives came up, and tree planting was discussed there was a group of old timers in the audience openly scoffing at the utter ridiculousness of planting trees.

I don't know if that "old Philly" attitude explains why many of the old rowhouse neighborhoods lack trees, but it would make sense based on my personal experience.
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Old 11-22-2012, 10:55 AM
 
Location: Philly
10,220 posts, read 16,747,388 times
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Originally Posted by mancat100 View Post
There are areas of the city full of big, beautiful trees, up in the northwest section. Many residential areas in or near Center City have a lot of street trees and are quite pleasant. Much of the city is fairly bare.

About 7 years ago I bought my first house. It was a small row home on a small street in South Philly. The street had no trees. I suggested to my neighbor, an elderly Italian-american woman who grew up in the area, that I was going to plant a tree in front of my house. She was adamantly against it saying the leaves would be a mess and the roots would break up the sidewalk, etc. I never did plant the tree.

Another story. Shortly after I bought the house I attended a meeting of the neighborhood association. When the topic of new initiatives came up, and tree planting was discussed there was a group of old timers in the audience openly scoffing at the utter ridiculousness of planting trees.

I don't know if that "old Philly" attitude explains why many of the old rowhouse neighborhoods lack trees, but it would make sense based on my personal experience.
in my experience "old italian types" only like trees that produce fruit. the loss of trees over time probably has a lot more to do with budget cuts and poor tree management over the years (not taking care of street trees, not replacing ones that die). of course, the flip side of poor tree management is that trees can cause problems for homeowners and if they touch the tree, they can be fined. it's not inconceivable that, over the years, the city never showed to prune the tree but did show to fine people. I've heard stories from old timers who cleaned up vacant lots and turned them into gardens only to have the city bulldoze the garden (for no apparent reason other than it was technically illegal). so the city had money to bulldoze gardens but no money to keep vacant lots clean. it still happens but less frequently.
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Old 10-25-2016, 12:06 PM
 
93 posts, read 95,706 times
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I happened to click on this old thread in the suggested similar threads C-D post below threads we visit and VIOLA. I remember seeing overhead pictures of Philly with far less green showing in neighborhoods then most other Major cities. San Francisco has maybe the least. Cities like DC, Chicago, Atlanta and Minneapolis to name a few are known for tree-lined neighborhoods throughout.

But in seeing some tight neighborhood blocks outside of CC. Many appeared treeless but similar ones once gentrified have trees planted. But will be years for a true tree canopy returns. Colonial areas of CC still have many large trees which is nice and adds to its quaintness.
I would hope Philly still has a campaign of restoring trees to the city's neighborhoods where most were lost or were not seen as a necessary luxury for the masses where the tightest Row-housing was built.

So I thought I'd RE-OPEN the thread for Philly residents to post comments on trees in blocks IMOPRTANCE to them and the RESTORING or merely adding trees to the city for AESTHETICS to eventually shading the streets from some of summers radiating heat.
Don't get me wrong in saying Philly streets are mostly treeless. But I do note a far less bigger tree canopy then other major cities in neighborhoods.

TreePhilly: Why A 30 Percent Tree Canopy in Philadelphia Matters 2011 Article

According to a study by the University of Vermont released in March 2011 on the city's current and possible tree canopy, the city's overall canopy was a little better than previously thought, at 20 percent, and the goal of 30 percent coverage was deemed within reach (the city's tree canopy has been as high as 40 percent going back 40-50 years).
However, there are nearly a dozen areas where the canopy is almost non-existent, between 3 and 8 percent: zip codes 19149, 19134, 19137 in the Northeast, 19122, 19123, 19125 in Kensington, Fishtown and river wards, and 19147, 19148, 19145, 19112 in South Philadelphia.

Dear Philly Tree Canopy: You Can Get Bigger | Naked Philly 2011 also

The report found one-fifth of the City of Brotherly Love, less than 20K acres, was covered by green space. Chinatown, North and South Philadelphia have the least amount of greenery, with only 3 percent.
The Wissahickon and Pennypack Park neighborhoods boast the highest existing tree canopy at 83 percent and 81 percent, respectively.

Last edited by JustGoForIt; 10-25-2016 at 12:37 PM..
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