NIghtmare on Møllegade

On the corner of Møllegade and Guldbergsgade on Nørrebro, the city is preparing to fell fifteen out of eighteen big and healthy trees, for a tile square.

For two years we have fought to be heard, and make them incorporate as many trees as possible in the new design. We have exposed the department's lies to the following group and citizens wanting a green square, stating the trees were in poor condition and not worth preserving. Only when the plan was set, did they admit that the trees were healthy and it turns out many even marked as worth preserving.

At the audience for the Committee in charge of Technical- and Environmental Affairs, we handed over 2800 signatures, from citizens who want to preserve the trees on the square. The square is part of a larger plan for the area, of which a few other plans have been cancelled along the way: the petting zoo By Oasen survived, and the bike lane going straight through the City of The Elderly, was dropped. A plan no one wanted or needed.

The same can be said about a naked tile square. The project is in two parts: the kindergarten gets a new playground on the other side, and the recycling station will no longer be locked off. For a long time we believed that there would be a bike lane through the square, but it is a pedestrian affair only.

This big ash tree will be felled to make space for a toy shed for the kindergarten. Why can't they place that shed up against the new wall, facing the square? You don't cut down a big tree to place a shed for toys. You just don't!

At our audience we introduced a suggestion from the building specialists, recommending the use of screw foundations for the (other) shed. This would spare three big ash trees on the opposite side, along Møllegade. The Department admitted this was a viable option, sparing the roots of the trees, but we still don't know if they will take advantage of it. The citizens have not been granted even one more tree.

The democratic process in this case has been a disgrace. Our complaint was handled by the very people we complained about. They denied having lied to the following group and citizens, as proven by the health report that they provided much later. Sneaky.

Following this horrible process I have talked to everyone from the Ombudsman to The Environmental Board of Appeal and the Local Government Denmark, trying to find a way to try our case. We have nowhere to turn. And now they are preparing to fell our fifteen beautiful trees. This is a nightmare.

Our beautiful endangered trees. Half of the wall is preserved, the corner will be removed. 

Some facts, black on white (In Danish, let me know if you need translating):

May 2015: Project manager discourages the committee from sparing the three ash trees facing Møllegade, as the nearby digging for the shed, is expected to damage over 40% of the roots, and thereby creating a risk tree. But as we know, and the department later admitted to (below), a screw foundation is the obvious solution, limiting damage to the roots to a minimum.

October 2015: the department's answer to the suggested method of screw foundation. Here, it is obvious that the solution opens up for possible preservation of the three trees behind the shed, which is moved slightly from the wall.

Anyone left to help us out here?

Previous posts, two years of fighting for the Møllegade trees:

We will fight till the end

Damage control

A dark day

The last appeal

Time's up

Access to information in Møllegade case

Trees on Lorry TV

Greetings from a shy apple tree

Last chance for Møllegade

Save the Møllegade trees

Møllegade news

Green Bike Lanes, haste on a budget

The citizen's briefing

The day before

Latest development in the case of 14 endangered Nørrebro trees

Update on Nørrebro's 14 endangered trees

Amber alert on Nørrebro

Greetings from an endangered tree

Tiles over trees

Read this and the posts above in Danish, on the mother blog here: Red Byens Træer. 

A dropped ball (hearing reply)

We made the deadline for the hearing reply, for the Natural History Museum, with the prospect of total deforestation of the entrance area. After the last post, so many citizens have left impressive hearing replies. And hallelujah for that because all the trees got from the Local Council of Central Copenhagen, was one sentence: "Include the existing trees in the project." Gee.

The trees are the ball that everyone thinks someone else got, and again it ends up dropped. If we had not left our replies, the trees would have been invisible in the process. That is a scary thought? Knowing how much the citizens prioritize the urban nature? We need a loud and clear voice, speaking for the trees, and we can no longer afford to trust anyone else with the ball.

Hooray for citizens who look after the urban trees! <3

Our hearing reply:

Hearing reply for the National History Museum.

This reply concerns the entrance area for the new Natural History Museum, where the layout is still so unfinished that apparently anything can happen. However, yet another rendition without trees, sounds off the alarm.

Copenhagen have so few old trees left, and too few street trees in general. They are constantly felled to make room for this or that project. Always with the promise of "replacement". But there is no replacing these old trees.

Why the trees in the entrance area should be preserved:

The trees help us in so many ways. They absorb water (bigger = more), and takes the pressure of the infrastructure and basements at flooding. They clean our air, store CO2 and absorb a part of the lethal particles, killing off 500 Copenhageners annually. They absorb the noise from the traffic, have a speed reducing effect on drivers and increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Big trees also help reduce urban heating. 

Biodiversity in Copenhagen suffers, and the every felling and removal of nature cuts into the green corridors. This affects the odds of survival for urban wild life. The idea of replacement only works on paper: a 100 year old organism can't be recreated in our lifetime.

The WW2 shelters (bunkers):

Most of the old trees by the entrance at Natural History Museum is entangled in the foundation of the bunkers, meaning the bunkers should be incorporated into the new design if at all possible. By removing the bunkers, a large part of the small urban forest will go too. 

The worker's village:
A part of the entrance area is expected to be used as a worker's village for the workers. Usually this entails flattening of the entire area, and felling of all trees. But we have seen new ways of creating these places, without removing the trees. The minimal annoyance the trees would give, is compensated by 50+ of daily appreciation for all. Wrap the trunks and give the trees a chance to survive, where ever possible. This instruction should be included in the final approval.

The glass structure:
The big glass structure poses a danger to birds. Lesson learned from a similar design by the Natural History Museum in LA, is that it is a magnet (of death) to the very birds they are trying to attract. Birds can't tell the difference between glass and air. This causes between 100 million and 1 billion to die from impact with glass fronts. Do we know the numbers in Copenhagen/Denmark? It should be investigated, and appropriate measures taken to avoid it. 

Finally it is my hope that the city will learn from the horrible mistake that was the new entrance area of National Museum of Denmark, on the opposite corner. Satellite images, before/after.

The loss of which the Copenhageners are still mourning. It can't be allowed to happen again. Spare the trees and keep the remaining urban nature.

kind regards
Sandra Høj
Red Byens Træer

******

Links:
Potential disaster ahead, previous post on Natural History Museum

Hearing reply by Save the Urban Trees (in Danish)

Hearing reply by Local Council of Central Cph. (in Danish)

Overview of all hearing replies (in Danish)
This post in Danish: Bolden, ingen har.

Potential disaster ahead

The Natural History Museum, on the corner of Øster Farimagsgade and Sølvgade, are expanding. On Tuesday the project was presented at a citizen's meeting, followed by a half hour of questions from the audience.

The architect had plenty to say about the part of the project to be build in the garden behind the museum, but nothing about the entrance area, with the bunker-hill landscape and beautiful forest of big old trees. On the rendering of the entrance area, everything has been cut down. I asked the architect about the plans, and was told that this part have not been settled yet. The only thing they know for sure, is the bike parking facility for a little over 150 bikes. But we are not to despair, as "any old tree cut down would be replaced".

We know exactly where we are headed. All you have to do is look across the street, to the opposite corner by the mutilated once-upon-a-garden at the National Museum of Denmark...

The questions posed by the citizens were an embarrassing display of parking-whining. The trees barely mentioned. No one fights for the trees at these meetings, and therefore no one at this level takes them into consideration. We must do better. All of us. This is serious business, we are losing our irreplaceable trees at an unheard pace.

The WW2 bunkers on the square are used for rehearsal studios, and there is currently a petition to save them, and incorporate them into the new plan. We are in support of that of course, because without the bunkers, the trees won't survive, as the roots are entangled with the foundation. All the bunkers and old trees may not be saved, but some must be preserved. We have to insist on that.

The hearing deadline is approaching (on Jan. 25th). We and the Local Council for Central Copenhagen, are both going to underline the importance of preserving the old trees. Everyone can leave a reply, so please do. Tell them that we prioritize other things than just parking. The worst-case scenario below is not yet decided, we still have time to fight, and hope for someone to listen to reason.

 Summer 2015 vs. the architect's vision. 

Pictures of the endangered oasis, from a blooming August day last year:

 

Snippets from two slides from the presentation. The old trees deemed worth preserving is counted at 14. And on top of half of them (?) suggested bike parking.

Link overview:

Read and leave a hearing reply here until the 25th of January (in Danish)

Introduction to project (in English)

The massacre of the National Museum of Denmark described on Classic Copenhagen

Save the Bunkers on Facebook

Petition to save the bunkers

The year in trees

2015 was a big year for Save the Urban Trees. We have grown to a size that makes us heard, when we speak up. Those who joined us recently may think that we are here to replant the urban trees, but nothing could be further from our purpose. We are working to make the city implement the existing trees in new projects, and have them take better care of the ones we have left.

The year in trees:

One of the big cases was Nørrebros Runddel. Had it not been for the citizen's alarm, the five old and healthy linden trees would be gone today. Instead, we managed to get a dialogue with our mayor of trees Kabell, and saved the old trees.

Further down on Nørrebro we have been fighting for two years to save some of the fifteen endangered trees, on the corner of Møllegade and Guldbergsgade, where the city plans to replace the trees with an open tile square. A little under 3000 citizens have signed the petition to preserve the trees, without leaving the slightest impression on our elected officials. They are planning to fell the trees this spring, but we will fight until they cut them down.

2015 was also the year of the monster hearing reply, as a response to the city's proposal for an urban nature strategy (Høring for Bynær Natur). And the year where we were allowed to conquer the airwaves in the world's cosiest radio show Natursyn on national radio P1. The media are tuned into trees like never before and we are finally hearing politicians calling for at tree policy for Copenhagen.

Finally there is Mission Maple Tree, our tree from Krauseparken. At the last moment we managed to save the metro-endangered tree on Østerbro. More than anything we would have preferred to see the beautiful ash (turned out to be not-maple, after all) tree preserved in the native soil, but sadly that was not an option. This is why we pulled together and in record time miraculously managed to raise the funds to move the tree to Fælledparken. A 14.000 dkr telegram from the citizens to our politicians, to wake up and take better care of our urban trees. Cough.

The coming year is going to be exciting. We have grown into union-size, and more people are requesting the option to support the cause financially. We also have to launch that tree map. We are so close, if only the city would curb the chainsaw.. How about that, Morten Kabell?

Happy New Year!

Read this post in Danish here: Året i træer.

Mission accomplished!

Make room for the mother of all recaps, on the flash-crowdfunded citizen-saved tree, also known as Mission Maple Tree. Picture heavy, cronological and detailed. Moving day: the front car with the rotten banana in the drivers seat, stayed put, but the crucial two moved by some miracle. Michael from Det Grønne Team (The Green Team) got there first, and then came the gravel. Six tonnes sound of more than it looks. The Nemgrus man was kind: "no assignment is too small".

We now have 6 tonnes of gravel up for grabs (worth about 1800 dkr), in Krauseparken. Spread the word.

The ramp was easy. The gravel was stamped and covered. It was the fence from hell, that presented the biggest obstacle. No one saw that coming.

Wood to spare the lawn. (The fence before we dug in, luckily not as new, so hopefully we will be able to restore it, and maybe even improve it slightly).

This fence would not just let itself be pulled up. It was unwilling to cooperate in any way. But we managed to tear it out of the soil. The reestablishing headache would have to wait, because with the fence in place, the move would not be possible.

Last qualified suggestion as to species, is American Ash. But one does not change the name mid-mission, for any reason. It is an estimated twenty years of age, and one of nature's own, a self seeded tree. A tree beating all the odds, and growing so big and beautiful with no help from a nursery. This tree just deserves the chance to fight.

And them came the mover. 

The grabber unfolded and our flash-crowdfunded ramp performed its duty.

The "nails" dug in, one by one. It would not have happened with that fence in place.

What the fence looks like now. We have called Ishøj Hegn to get a quote on a repair (not a replacement because that is just unbelieveable expensive), it is in on Wednesday December 23rd.

The our tree was on the truck, and ready to go.

Second obstacle we had not anticipated: Christmas decorations! Low hanging knick-knacks forced the moving truck to find an alternative route, but eventually he made it to Strandboulevarden. We rode ahead of him in the gardener's truck, with windows all the way down and arms sticking out. Keeping an eye on the crown of the tree, and trying to avoid collisions with other trees and wires. We were so close, when the mission came to a halt in a huge intersection on Østerbrogade.

A low hanging wire was in the way. Michael was as passionate about the mission as any of us: this can't be it, we will find a way! He jumped out of the car, ran into the intersection and climbed the tree. A drama best illustrated in black-and-white.

The mover and the gardner gently tied down the crown. No hysterical honking from the afternoon traffic, not even once. And then we got there. Greeted by a city gardener.

While the tree was still on the horisontal, Michael cut the damaged branches, to minimize exposure to fungus and rot.

And then the tree was lowered and positioned. I a rich clay soil, as the city gardner said was so much better for the tree than what it came from.

So tall that we have to turn the format.

The new neighbors, our tree to the left.

We made it!

The tree is not just across from Jagtvej nr 181. The tree closest to the metro fence, on the corner.

A suggestion has been made that we raise a small plaque with the history of the tree and the move. We have to check with the city, if that is possible. And then we have to meet and dance around our beauiful tree, of course. This calls for a celebration.

This has all been made possible by the citizens, supporting so big and so fast. Without this support, the beautiful tree would have been felled today. This is something we achieved together. The funding is made in two parts. The first paid for the mover, the second for the ramp. Here is the list of contributors for the second round:

A big thank you to everyone who supported.
Here is an overview of the expenses as of today:

It will be a little more with the fence, but we also managed to raise more funds, before we stopped collecting. It is impossible to say how much the fence is going to cost. It may be that more help is needed, we will just have to find that. Any funds not spent will be returned, of course.

Finally we have received a sweet mail from The Green Team, where the owners donate 500 dkr to Mission Maple Tree. So sweet. And even more so because their huge effort made the whole difference. Never again shall I underestimate the importance of having a resourceful gardener involved.

We have all reason to be proud of what we have accomplished, by standing united as citizens. We have made a huge difference and we shall continue to do so. I hope you agree?

Mission Maple update

Our citizen's rescue mission have made a big impression on everyone from politicians to the media. Maybe they are starting to realise how important the trees are to us. TV Lorry is looking forward to document the journey and journalists are pushing for updates.

According to plans the big move was set for today but we had no such luck. It turns out that we were misinformed, the gravel ramp needed for the moving truck to cross the elevated edge, was not included in the quote. And the Metro Company won't be involved in the project in any way, even if we offer to pay for it.

All they are willing to do, is to push the deadline one last time, so we can make our own ramp. We have until Friday, and that is final. We have come so far and fought so hard to save that tree, so let's do it. We build our own ramp!

The plan is to do it on Wednesday. We need a day for the gravel and maschinery to arrive, and payment is in advance, so time is short.

I have spoken to a company willing to deliver and remove the gravel. And I have talked to the garderners Det Grønne Team, who will stabilize the gravel and provide free planks to put on top (and remove them again afterwards). They will only charge us for the working hours, lending us the machinery for free. In all the ramp (and getting rid of it afterwards) will cost us 6500 dkr.

The question is if the citizens are willing to go the extra mile? I have heard from people that were sad they didn't have the chance to help finance the move. That is now possible. Contributors list is publicised afterwards (anonymous or by name, your choice). If you want to contribute, let me know by direct message, and I will give you the information you need. If we don't reach our goal, the money is returned, of course.


It is a hassle but it is possible. And if the Metro Company can build tunnels under the entire city, surely we can build a ramp and move that tree. There is still time.

From a spring moving in the City of The Elderly.

The Administration recommends...

The Technical- and Environmental Council for the City of Copenhagen convenes tomorrow. On the agenda is a recommendation from the Administration, to fell a healthy twenty year old linden tree, by Frederiksholms Kanal and replant a new one five meters further up the road. Why? To improve the view. 

Red circle: "disturbing" tree. Yellow circle: planting site of replacement tree.

According to the Administration the tree disturbs the view of the bridge Marmorbroen, and access for pedestrians would improve without it.

From the proposal:

This is not a joke. And it is not even funny seeing how the recommendations of the Administration are usually followed. As a citizen one can only hope that someone in the council reads up on this suggestion, and turns it down.

While we are busy saving a tree in Krauseparken.