A lawsuit settlement between the victim of a traffic accident and the City of Berkeley is forcing the public works department to come up with a plan to better maintain the trees and plants growing inside the many traffic circles that help keep cars from driving too fast in residential areas.
The tree growing in the middle of a Russell Street intersection is wrapped with a banner reading, ‘Save Our Oak Tree.’
It’s one of many trees that might have been cut down if not for community outrage.
This stems from the $2 million settlement that the city made with a woman who was seriously hurt when struck in the crosswalk of Stuart and Ellsworth back in 2015.
Part of the agreement calls for the city to cut down most of the trees inside the traffic circles or ensure they are maintained.
The City’s Director of Public Works says that the accident was an eye-opener but there was a lot of pushback from the community at the thought of cutting down the trees.
“I think would be a shame for them to cut them down because they bring a really good like out of you. I just a good perspective of like nature of stuff you know?”
Since 2012, the city has relied on volunteers to help maintain the trees and plants inside the circles but there is now talk of that being taken over by city workers since concerns have been raised about residents being at risk of being injured while trimming branches and picking up trash in the intersection.
One longtime volunteer, Any Liu, is not happy about the idea of giving up the butterfly habitat he’s cultivated.
“We’re concerned about losing our public gardens,” Liu said. “You’re also concerned about the city saying that they’re going to make something really beautiful but they don’t have enough staff if you look at the rest of all of our parks and our public spaces. They come out once a year to cut it all down.”
The public works director says one idea they’re planning to put forward at Tuesday nights meeting is to set a schedule of neighborhood participation days that would allow the volunteers to help maintain the foliage inside the traffic circles with Public Works personnel acting as traffic control.