OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford
A Tree For Thee has planted more than 100 trees at Point Gratiot but city officials want the organization to stop for now.
Mary Louise McGraw’s tree project is intended to provide shade for future generations. This week, she threw shade at City Hall and Mayor Kate Wdowiasz.
McGraw took the podium at a Common Council meeting to complain that A Tree For Thee’s remaining trees still aren’t planted.
The project was intended to replace ash trees destroyed by the emerald ash borer at Point Gratiot Park. It paired memorial plaques with saplings and proved more popular than McGraw anticipated — meaning she had more trees to plant than she originally suggested to city officials.
The city allowed well over 100 trees to get planted at Point Gratiot. However, after receiving state funding for tree plantings, city officials don’t want any more of A Tree For Thee’s at the Point, fearing they could jeopardize the grant.
McGraw started her podium time Tuesday with compliments and reassurance. She was happy the Department of Public Works is removing stumps of dead trees at the Point. She told DPW head Randy Woodbury that his summer help doesn’t have to water A Tree For Thee’s blue- and red-flagged saplings, because the group’s volunteers do. “You can have them do something else,” she suggested to Woodbury about the summer employees.
McGraw then moved on to grievances.
Revitalize Dunkirk also did a recent tree planting project at the Point, and she said city officials came up with a map of where both organizations could plant their trees. Revitalize Dunkirk “relinquished their territory, their property, their kingdom” back to the city. “They said they were done planting trees, that’s great,” McGraw said. “We are not done planting trees. In my eyes, we are grandfathered into that agreement. So we still have our 14 acres.”
McGraw went on to suggest that she might have only about 23 remaining trees, instead of the 68 she has stated before — but on two conditions, She said some of the memorial plaque donors have agreed to put trees in Wright Park. About 15 of the trees could be planted around where the stumps were removed at the Point, she added.
City officials, including Wdowiasz, did not respond. The mayor appeared rather uncomfortable and displeased. She’s suggested previously that A Tree For Thee must work with city officials and give up on planting any more trees at the Point.
“I would assume, Mayor Wdowiasz, that that’s a very palatable number, instead of 68,” McGraw continued. “I really want to stop all of this negative energy about this program. We’ve been on pause for the past two months — you can look at me, mayor, all right? We’ve been on pause for the past two months and I haven’t heard a word about any progression, any comments, anything.”
At that point, Councilperson-at-Large Nick Weiser interjected to dismiss her from the podium. “Thank you, Ms. McGraw, we’re quite a bit over time,” he said. Weiser asked her to follow up with DPW officials.
Councilperson Nancy Nichols, chair of the council’s DPW committee, later commented, “Thank you so much to Mary Louise for her work at the Point.”