Narragansett

A little help, please, for the town’s trees

Narragansett now has the best possible climate, both geographical and political, to renew its urban forest. Three new town administrators are keen on reversing the long decline in Narragansett’s green resources.

Most of the center of town was planted with street trees at the beginning of the 20th century, when streets were first paved. After 100 years, most of those early trees are reaching the ends of their life spans. Even more recently planted trees have been subjected to weather, insect and disease damage, and the radical pruning needed to maintain clearance for trucks and overhead wires.

Jeffry Ceasrine, town manager; Barry Fontaine, director of parks and recreation; and David Ousterhout, director of public works, are committed to planting new trees wherever there are suitable open spaces available on Narragansett’s streets, parks and public facilities.

With the assistance of the Narragansett Tree Board, created by the recently passed Tree Ordinance, Narragansett’s two tree wardens are creating a town-wide five-year plan and budget to care for trees. Jay Winter has long been Narragansett’s first tree warden, employed by the Department of Parks and Recreation. Ousterhout was recently appointed as a second tree warden to manage trees on the streets and in the landscapes of public housing projects and the Town Hall and police and fire stations.

Each year the plan will be updated, taking into account what was accomplished in the previous year, and what is planned for the next years. In the first years, the budget will be heavy on equipment purchases and removing dangerous trees. Each year’s budget will also be devoted to tree pruning to remove dead limbs and maintain vehicle and wire clearances, as well as purchasing and planting young trees.

Although most Rhode Islanders celebrate Arbor Day April 26, Narragansett celebrated its Arbor Day April 19. To mark this special occasion, two Kousa Dogwood trees were planted on the front lawn of the Town Hall. The planting team was led by Ousterhout, who removed by hand the thick sod in the planting area. He was assisted in the tree planting by members of the Narragansett Tree Board — chairman William A. Bivona; Camilla Lee and her husband, Charles; David Figgins; John MacLennan; and Raymond Ward.

Figgins and Ousterhout collaborated in applying for a $4,000 America the Beautiful, Tree Rhode Island grant, administered by the state Department of Environmental Management and Tree Council. The grant will provide funds for conducting a tree inventory, purchasing tree-management software and planting 15 trees on five streets, and commits the town to expend $6,000 in matching labor and equipment use. Volunteer hours can be used to defray the town’s matching costs.

The public is enthusiastically invited to assist in this process of renewing Narragansett’s green resources. The Tree Board is developing a plan to accept gift trees and suggested locations for them from the public. The Tree Board will also be accepting possible locations for new trees, including private yards that face the street, where street planting would not be possible due to overhead wires and other factors. The Tree Board will need the public’s assistance in conducting a tree inventory of dangerous trees and those that would best be replaced. A training program will be offered for those who wish to participate in this inventory, which is the first step in creating a five-year plan and budget.

Assistance can also be rendered through the Narragansett Tree Society, a private, nonprofit group founded in 2000 specifically to help the town renew its urban forest. The society raises funds to donate to the town for tree-related projects, and organizes labor forces to accomplish some of the plantings. Since 2000, the Tree Society has planted trees in Sprague Park, Eastward Look Park, Camp JORI, and the front lawns of several private properties, including two sold for low-income housing. It also sponsored the tree ordinance. It is registered as a 501(c) 3 nonprofit corporation with the IRS, and donations to it and expenses incurred on its behalf are tax-deductible. Volunteer hours can be counted against its own grant application budgets or those of the Town of Narragansett.

For information on these programs, contact William A. Bivona at 824-6804, and leave a message. All calls will be returned.

WILLIAM A. BIVONA

Narragansett

The writer chairs the Narragansett Tree Board.

North Kingstown

Library’s response to plan is uncalled for

When you offer a group $9,000 to provide a service to the citizens of North Kingstown, you might expect some appreciation. Not so in the outrageous message from Patricia Carlson, chairman of the North Kingstown Free Library’s Board of Trustees and the library’s director, Susan Aylward. Their statement, posted on the town’s official Web site and elsewhere, demands a response.

First, no municipal employee has any business engaging in polemics and attacking the North Kingstown Town Council or its members. I trust that the town manager will ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

Second, this attack is a gross overreaction to the good-faith action of the Town Council, which voted unanimously to earmark $9,000 to help the library stay open on Sunday. These funds were predicated on the library coming up with $1,000 in matching funds. In future years the town’s obligation would decrease and the library’s obligation would increase. Ms. Carlson and Ms. Aylward were enthusiastic about this innovative approach at the time it was discussed, during the recent council deliberations of the library budget, which, unfortunately, they have failed to mention in their statement.

Now, out of the blue, Ms. Carlson, on behalf of the trustees, and Ms. Aylward not only have rejected the proposal, but they have attacked the council in the process. They criticize the notion that “public-private partnerships” have a role in library affairs, or, indeed, any role in town. They need to understand that as stewards of the taxpayers money, the Town Council has an obligation to try to find creative strategies to provide residents with the same level of service, and ideally more, without burdening taxpayers with ever-increasing property taxes. Public-private partnerships are one way to think outside of the box, yet this has been rejected out of hand.

We need to look no further than the new senior center, for which 20 percent of the costs will be privately raised. We need to look no further than our local golf course, where a no-interest loan, to be paid back through golf-course revenues, will be granted by the town to upgrade the aging irrigation system. And we have raised the possibility with the Quonset Development Corporation of working out an arrangement in the future to share expenses for fire safety resources in the northern end of town.

I predict that these types of partnerships will not only be the wave of the future, but are essential practices for the present. We are even engaging in partnerships and consolidation endeavors with the School Committee and have initiated conversations with the East Greenwich Town Council to find innovative solutions to provide taxpayers with more for less.

I have spoken to Ms. Carlson, Ms. Aylward and Ms. Kresinski, the chairman of the Friends of the Library, about the premature announcement of this exciting new plan. However, I will not apologize for the action of the council when the motivation for the proposal was to help the library stay open on Sundays at minimal taxpayer expense.

Instead of saying, “OK, you jumped the gun, but let’s see what we can do since the goal here is to keep the library open on Sundays,” Ms. Carlson, the trustees and Ms. Aylard have let ego and turf issues get in the way of a solution to benefit the residents of our town. They have now attacked two members of the Town Council in writing, and verbally members of the Board of Trustees have said things ranging from “this was inappropriate” to “it’s political” and “there’s a hidden agenda.” Talk about no good deed going unpunished!

The residents and taxpayers of the town of North Kingstown deserve the very best efforts of all the volunteers in town, including those who serve on the library’s Board of Trustees. This board has chosen to “shoot the messenger” rather than deal with the issue of this magnificent library of ours being open Sunday. They are engaging in unseemly pettiness. How sad.

John A. Patterson

North Kingstown

The writer is a member of the North Kingstown Town Council.

North Kingstown

On contrary, Wickford is still a vibrant hub

What a shame that newspapers often feel that they have to make a negative presentations in their news coverage. Contrary to Paul Davis’ sentiments (“Ryan’s closes, perhaps permanently,” April 22), Wickford is not in its demise.

Yes, a few stores have closed or may be in the process of closing, but in some cases that seems to be more a result of poor business decisions rather than a general malaise in the village. There are many wonderful merchants who are thriving because they are good business people who offer good products and welcome visitors into their stores. Many of these stores are destination spots, to which people come from a distance just to shop at them and to enjoy the village.

Please don’t paint a picture of doom, because that will cause people to believe that Wickford has nothing to offer. It is a great place to visit and to do business, and the empty stores will be revived!

Nora Hall

North Kingstown

The writer is the president of Historic Wickford Inc.