Thanks for the information, it does make sense to plant a variety. I grew on the west side of Lansing in the '60s and '70s, most of our area around Quentin and Frances Park had huge American Elms lining the streets. It was really terrible to see those lovely trees die off one by one. As kids the elms sort of told the seasons by events like the big seed drops that we called oatmeal, the sticky sidewalks during aphid season, dark green cool shade in summer, and of course in fall when we would make all kinds of fun with the leaves, like making forts, mazes, and big plies to jump in. After all that we would make big bonfires right in the street that filled the air with the scent of burning leaves [ kind of nice] which was another sign of the seasons coming from the elms. The street looked kind of shabby after all the trees were cut down. The city planted Asian/Russian Elms in front of our houses which have much smaller limbs than American Elms, fifty something years later you will find a nice tunnel of trees down Park Ave. almost a nice as the big elms of long ago. I hope that kind of elm will not die off some day, they did plant all the same variety.
I've only saw those American Elm-lined streets in pictures and it really is sad to see what was lost. There is a longstanding effort to create a disease resistant American Elm, or at least a hybrid, hopefully they're successful. I've read that they think they may be close. I've become a fan of some of the large sycamores in my neighborhood.
One I do hope the city does less planting with are Honey Locust trees. I'm not sure I've met anyone who likes those lol.
I always liked Sycamores, but I know some people hate them because of the bark they "shed". I've been in a historic home on the westside and there are a decent amount of old Beech trees that I've enjoyed. Growing up, our house was surrounded by horrible silver maples, so it's nice to see some better options lol.
Here in downtown EL the city has installed these grey pillars that look like they have cameras inside the top. They are near corners like Abbot and Grand River. There are often door-dash drivers parked there as well as delivery trucks parked in the traffic lane. If the pillars are supposed to detour people from parking, they are not working, and I have seen no ticketing or any kind of enforcement there. I am just wondering what those things are.
I cannot say for certain, but I know the city received an offer to experiment with some automated cameras that would look for people illegally parked and automatically mail them a ticket. The deal is apparently that the city pays absolutely nothing for anything, but gets half the revenue from the parking tickets (the company that installs everything getting the other half, as you might guess).
So I'm guessing this is what you're seeing still, for the moment, as an experiment, just as that Flock camera setup at Kensington and Michigan is an experiment.
If they are there for parking enforcement perhaps there should be some sort of sign letting drivers know they will be ticketed by a recorded camara shot. Of course, if writing a lot of tickets is the motivation to make money than maybe they will just let people find out when they get a ticket in the mail. I have never understood why people think they can park on a corner in a traffic lane, the door dash drivers will stop right on Grand River Ave to pick up an order, I hope the new camaras and tickets will help the stupid understand what no parking at any time means.
My first thought was Flock cameras but there are also a lot a traffic monitoring cameras around so maybe that? I somewhat doubt their any kind of ticketing thing, in Michigan there are pretty strict limits on automated ticket systems from what I understand, they somewhat recently passed a law to allow speed cameras in construction zones but to the best of my knowledge none have been deployed. Those restrictions may not extend to parking infractions for all I know. The people parking/stopping on Grand River is truly a problem though.
I despise the relationships these sorts of ticket/surveillance camera and parking meter companies have with local governments. That we have to get approval from a company to make parking policy changes is nuts, that we're being mined for data in the process is insulting. It has to stop.
I had not thought about data collection by these camara things. It seems like an odd thing for EL to be doing but these days who knows! Sometimes I think these modern days suck so bad with all that sort of thing, killer drones, Identity theft, kids addicted to their screens, stupid people running things, robber barons, racists stealing votes, sick people with assault weapons. The old days could suck too, but it didn't seem so overwhelming filling our whole lives with anxiety. I am going to my off the grid cabin and let the world turn without me for a few.
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I always liked Sycamores, but I know some people hate them because of the bark they "shed". I've been in a historic home on the westside and there are a decent amount of old Beech trees that I've enjoyed. Growing up, our house was surrounded by horrible silver maples, so it's nice to see some better options lol.
So I'm guessing this is what you're seeing still, for the moment, as an experiment, just as that Flock camera setup at Kensington and Michigan is an experiment.
I despise the relationships these sorts of ticket/surveillance camera and parking meter companies have with local governments. That we have to get approval from a company to make parking policy changes is nuts, that we're being mined for data in the process is insulting. It has to stop.