August 01, 2004
Some things just make you wonder about our school district. Let's start with these wonderful new trees planted along the riverbank behind BMHS:
I remember watching Dutch Elm Disease march down Beloit's terraces - from tree-to-tree, lot-to-lot and block-to-block - eventually wiping out all the huge elm trees that lined and canopied Beloit's streets. It was very depressing. By the time I graduated from BMHS, Beloit's 'old city' looked almost as barren as Park Meadow (off Murphy's Woods Road) does now.
So why are all these same-species trees planted side-by-side, in a row, and so close together? It is no longer recommended, and Beloit's terrace tree program strongly discourages, the planting of same species trees in rows near each other. I also know from personal experience that you need more space between trees than what appears above.
Doesn't our school district employ some pretty well-educated people who understand and teach (imagine that!) biology and environmental science? So... how did we get this? Educate me.
Heck, I can't help but wonder if these maple trees are even appropriate for a riverbank planting? Oh yeah, and my son (see below) wants to know what happened to the big willow trees behind BMHS. Why were they cut down and not replaced?
Wait, there's more! How many more trees or books (gasp!) could our district have purchased if they'd skipped the silly plaques in front of each tree?
Each plaque, and therefore each tree, represents a school in the district Here's a close up:
Now, I don't know about you, but this all seems pretty silly and wasteful to me.
Wait... we're not done yet, there's still more! Maybe they could have used the time and concrete for the plaques to improve the looks, navigability, and safety of the area where the riverwalk ends south of BMHS? Here's what I'm talking about:
This spot represents an area of future development/improvement plans as part of the whole Beloit2000 plan. It is also in the gray area... between City and School properties. In other words, nobody wants to do anything. So it sits for years just as you see it here...
WHY? Because its in some ten-year plan to fix or improve? Because we can't agree on who will spend the few hundred dollars it would take to fix? What's so hard about making this look better and be safer?
Look closely and you should be able to see the pipe sticking up. (Look for a dark spot, right and a little up from center, between grass and dirt path.) You'd think that alone would get the district's risk management team to force some kind of action.
This doesn't require anything fancy. A little landscaping, a bit of fill, and layer of blacktop 3 to 4 feet wide and - POOF - all better! What is so hard about this?
Where are our school district's skills and priorities? Where's our school board?
But, you say, 'you're nitpicking' or 'this is micromanaging to the extreme.' It is, but that's what you get when a governmental enterprise suffers from bad management - micromanagement from elected officials and the electorate. What other choice do you have? That's simple: Get new management.
Think about it.
(You can see the originals of these photos at: http://www.geocities.com/mark_e_p/blogimages .)
I remember watching Dutch Elm Disease march down Beloit's terraces - from tree-to-tree, lot-to-lot and block-to-block - eventually wiping out all the huge elm trees that lined and canopied Beloit's streets. It was very depressing. By the time I graduated from BMHS, Beloit's 'old city' looked almost as barren as Park Meadow (off Murphy's Woods Road) does now.
So why are all these same-species trees planted side-by-side, in a row, and so close together? It is no longer recommended, and Beloit's terrace tree program strongly discourages, the planting of same species trees in rows near each other. I also know from personal experience that you need more space between trees than what appears above.
Doesn't our school district employ some pretty well-educated people who understand and teach (imagine that!) biology and environmental science? So... how did we get this? Educate me.
Heck, I can't help but wonder if these maple trees are even appropriate for a riverbank planting? Oh yeah, and my son (see below) wants to know what happened to the big willow trees behind BMHS. Why were they cut down and not replaced?
Wait, there's more! How many more trees or books (gasp!) could our district have purchased if they'd skipped the silly plaques in front of each tree?
Each plaque, and therefore each tree, represents a school in the district Here's a close up:
Now, I don't know about you, but this all seems pretty silly and wasteful to me.
Wait... we're not done yet, there's still more! Maybe they could have used the time and concrete for the plaques to improve the looks, navigability, and safety of the area where the riverwalk ends south of BMHS? Here's what I'm talking about:
This spot represents an area of future development/improvement plans as part of the whole Beloit2000 plan. It is also in the gray area... between City and School properties. In other words, nobody wants to do anything. So it sits for years just as you see it here...
WHY? Because its in some ten-year plan to fix or improve? Because we can't agree on who will spend the few hundred dollars it would take to fix? What's so hard about making this look better and be safer?
Look closely and you should be able to see the pipe sticking up. (Look for a dark spot, right and a little up from center, between grass and dirt path.) You'd think that alone would get the district's risk management team to force some kind of action.
This doesn't require anything fancy. A little landscaping, a bit of fill, and layer of blacktop 3 to 4 feet wide and - POOF - all better! What is so hard about this?
Where are our school district's skills and priorities? Where's our school board?
But, you say, 'you're nitpicking' or 'this is micromanaging to the extreme.' It is, but that's what you get when a governmental enterprise suffers from bad management - micromanagement from elected officials and the electorate. What other choice do you have? That's simple: Get new management.
Think about it.
(You can see the originals of these photos at: http://www.geocities.com/mark_e_p/blogimages .)
Comments:
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"You'd think that alone would get the district's risk management team to force some kind of action."Perhaps it wasn't brought to the attention of the risk management team or maybe their function is providing oversight to the retirement fund investment portfolio, who knows but I do recall a time when you would tell the janitor who would take care of it at first opportunity. Crisis averted. Situation solved.
Yes, it was a simpler time. We didn't have risk management teams so we had to rely on common sense more. Alas, we are in the modern era now.
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Yes, it was a simpler time. We didn't have risk management teams so we had to rely on common sense more. Alas, we are in the modern era now.
# posted by 
: August 2, 2004 at 12:14 AM
: August 2, 2004 at 12:14 AM<< Home
