It has been a while since I’ve seen so many people organize over a city policy.
I remember when the city turned off the little league lights because they didn’t have enough money. That got a pretty good reaction.
Then there are all the financial woes the city seems to dig itself into.
From the Adelphia Center to the illegally allocated retirement incentives, to the time when the city withdrew funds from the schools to the two week welcome banner disaster that cost city businesses $70,000, the citizens have had plenty of issues to choose from when they want to protest. So naturally when we do decide to protest, we choose the most sensitive subject of all . beech trees.
Beech trees . harmless little beech trees (they’re really not that little).
They were here before Johnson City was. They are thought to be 300 to 500 years old. They’re beautiful, and maybe the fact that it’s fall kind of helps. I like the trees.
I recently gave my support to the SGA when they decided to send their voice to the city, in support of keeping the trees. I saw the Sierra Club rallying citizens off of State of Franklin where the trees will be cut down if the city approves the rezoning. Many other students and citizens also agree.
But, why do we protest things like this?
Certainly I care about how the city looks, and I know we don’t need another pharmacy. I know Walgreens just pulled a stunt like this on South Roan Street. But I still cannot understand why everyone would take up an issue like this and not be outraged at some of the other policies the city has let slide.
Time and time again the city seems to find itself in problems that I would like to call outrageous but have yet to see any outrage.
I’m ecstatic that people have put aside their apathy for a few weeks to fight for something we can all enjoy.
However, before we let our picket signs collect dust we need to recognize that there are many other issues the city has.
I’m not advocating that we protest everything the city does, but the city has major problems and the least of these are trees.

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