Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / La Salle seeks grant to inventory, improve downtown trees

Transcript

La Salle seeks grant to inventory, improve downtown trees · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Lasal seeks grant to inventory improve downtown trees. Written by
• 0:10
  Mathias Werner, This article is being read by an automated
• 0:14
  voice brought to you by Everlett. Flora improvements may soon
• 0:19
  be coming to the City of Lasal. With the cooperation
• 0:23
  and sponsorship of the Lasal Business Association, the City of
• 0:26
  LaSalle applied for a grant to fund a downtown tree
• 0:29
  inventory management plan. The core point is pretty simple. If
• 0:34
  we want a stronger downtown economy, we need streets where
• 0:37
  people want to spend more time. LBAs spokesman Chris dunk said,
• 0:41
  trees and other landscaping make that happen. The grant application
• 0:46
  for up to thirty seven three hundred and ten dollars,
• 0:49
  was submitted by the city to the Trees Forever Organization,
• 0:52
  which is funded by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
• 0:56
  If approved, the grant would focus on First Street, eight Street,
• 1:00
  Civic Road, and Rotary Park, though the entire city is eligible.
• 1:04
  Duncan said that investing in improvements to the city's streetscape
• 1:09
  will benefit Lassalle's downtown business district. Our current trees are
• 1:13
  attractive and ecologically diverse, but they don't necessarily fit well
• 1:18
  on a shopping street. He said on a retail street,
• 1:21
  trees and landscaping aren't just decoration their infrastructure. City officials
• 1:26
  in the LBA say some trees lack uniform species or
• 1:29
  spacing and have become a nuisance for residents, motorists, and
• 1:33
  business owners. Duncan said some trees attract nesting birds or bees,
• 1:38
  deterring residents from walking downtown, while others are too tall
• 1:41
  and block business signage or windows. Duncan offered a blueprint
• 1:45
  for improving the streetscape. What works best are large, fast
• 1:49
  growing shade trees planted consistently and closely together to create
• 1:53
  a consistent, constant canopy over the street. The LBA expects
• 1:58
  to hear back within two weeks mm hmm