Treevenge, Hylton Style

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Yes folks, another paid utterance from our favorite Shade Tree Czar, Thomas Hylton, appears in today’s Pottstown Mercury.  This pearl of wisdom drips of acid after the last Pottstown Borough Council meeting rendered Mr. Hylton’s precious commission irrelevant with the passage of a new Shade Tree Ordinance that shifts authority for street trees to the Borough Manager.  

We are treated to another Jody Rhoads bashing and the same old tripe that Mr. Hylton bloviates time and again (see also hand waving).   

This will be short and sweet as I have exhausted myself on this subject.  

Tom, you lost.  Go away gracefully and stop making a colossal fool out of yourself.  You aren’t going to change anyone’s mind with your infomercials.  The deed is done dude.  You had your ten minutes before Council.  Obviously they don’t believe your hype either.  

Hopefully Pottstown will become a Tree City, USA and benefit from association with the Arbor Day Foundation and the National Association of State Foresters.  I think they are qualified to assist us so we can manage without your “expertise” from here on.  

Shade Tree Commissioner Tom Hylton Gets A Root Awakening

It appears that Tom Hylton is about to get the rug pulled out from under him on his Shade Tree Commission.  As someone who has followed the monkey business of this kangaroo court and reported on the last several “meetings” I say it’s about time.

Mr. Hylton and his “tree policies” have done a disservice to the people of Pottstown long enough.  Sitting on a bank account of nearly $100,000.00 and crying poverty constantly is ridiculous.  His answer to everything has been we have no money, it’s your responsibility.

The condescending treatment of homeowners with serious tree problems may soon be at an end.  I have never seen taxpayers treated with such contempt by a group of people who are supposed to be in charge of something.  In this case, trees.

I think the budget can be adjusted to fund tree problems.  I believe I read somewhere that a very small 1/10 of a mill, or some figure around that amount would be sufficient to create a tree fund.

Hopefully, after Monday, Mr. Hylton will be no longer involved with anything tree related in Pottstown.

Next step, the school board!

Two thumbs up to Jason, Jody and the rest of the Council for taking the tree by the branches and doing right by all Pottstonians!

Trees are not more important than people and trees do not pay taxes!

Why Isn’t Pottstown A Tree City USA Community???

I have wondered about this for years.  I did some research to see what is involved with a community becoming a Tree City USA.

Since Pottstown is the recipient of the Thomas Hylton Memorial Forest, one would think we would be at the top of the list!  There are 114 Tree City USA communities in the state of Pennsylvania.  They include: Boyertown, West Chester, Wyomissing, Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Lancaster, Lower Merion, Philadelphia, Phoenixville, Reading, Pottsville and the list goes on.

Communities of varying sizes are on the list.  The largest to the smallest municipalities are all represented, so size is not an issue.

There are four criteria:

1. A Tree Board or Department
2. A Tree Care Ordinance
3. An Annual Budget of $2 per capita
4. An Arbor Day Observance and Proclamation

I believe we have a tree board, a tree ordinance, we probably spend $40,000+ a year on tree care and we could always throw in an Arbor Day Observance.

The benefits are framework for action, education, public image, civic pride, financial assistance, publicity and there is a list of 15 more reasons to become a Tree City USA.  The Tree City program is sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters.

IMHO since we have all these trees why don’t we use them to our advantage?  Just sayin…..

For more information:  http://www.arborday.org/programs/treeCityUSA/index.cfm

A New Voice In The Blogsphere

Check out this informative blog that follows the antics of Pottstown’s illustrious tree hugger:

http://savepottstown.wordpress.com/

I am sure somebody will have a case of the cranky pants when they read this!  HAHAHA!

Trees are more important than people in Pottstown!

See my recent report on the Pottstown Shade Tree Commission and Trees Inc. in the Pottstown Herald. 

http://www.pottstownherald.com/roy-keeler/