Calvert Street Marrickville would be considered a street that has “enough” street trees when comparing with many other streets in the former Marrickville LGA. Therefore, I was really happy to drive down this street earlier this week & see lots of substantial-sized newly planted street trees. I was with a friend who is an Arborist & between us there were lots of exclamations like “ooohs,” “wow” & “look at that.” Being keen on trees makes one get excited by things like this. 🙂
Today I went back on my bicycle to have a closer look & was pleased with what I saw. Inner West Council has depaved sections of the footpath on both sides of the street & planted street trees in places where there were none for at least two decades, but likely much longer.
Council planted 27-28 new trees to fill in gaps & to add in places where they tend to leave empty.
Calvert Street looks so much better for these new trees. In 7-10 years, the residents will be really benefiting from the greening of their street.
The community will also benefit as Calvert Street will be much more pleasant for pedestrians. Being a street off ‘Town Centre,’ plenty of people walk this street to get to & from the shops.
New street tree plantings in Calvert Street have a history of being vandalised, so I am very pleased that Council did not capitulate to the vandal & continued to plant street trees. None of the new trees have been vandalised that I could see, so perhaps the vandal has given up, got educated, developed a social conscience or moved on. Any of these is a win for the community.
There seems to be a change this year in where trees are being planted & with the density of planting, which I think is wonderful.
If the Inner West Council’s plan is to plant all our streets like this our urban forest canopy will increase & so will this community’s health & quality of life. There will be less respiratory diseases, such as asthma & less heart disease with fatal heart attack.
Trees help lower stress & help depressed people feel happier. Trees also lower crime rates, lower noise pollution, act as a wind buffer & help catch stormwater. Powerbills should drop significantly, as will the urban heat island effect. Trees also sequester CO2 making them a vital component in mitigating climate change.
These are just some of the benefits trees provide for residents. There is no doubt that trees make streets nicer & healthier places to live. Shade is a valuable amenity these days.
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