 |
|
|
|
|
Council Watch
Glenites tire of tiptoeing through the tulip sap
Plan offers relief to neighborhoods suffering from sticky substance
By Jessica Lyons
Willow Glen's charming neighborhoods are among the most desirable in the valley. With its quaint cottages, manicured lawns and eclectic shops, Willow Glen is a small-town gem in the middle of big-city San Jose. Friendly neighbors know each other by name, and their children play together after school.
And then there are the tulip trees.
The slippery sap is next to impossible to scrub off cars, and works better than a banana peel to trip up an unsuspecting Glenite.
One Willow Glen representative isn't going to take it anymore. With a little help from the city, and Davey's Trees company, District 9 Councilman John Diquisto is taking to the streets on Oct. 7.
Davey's Trees will be soaking the tulip trees with a soapy insecticide spray to get rid of those pesky aphids that cause the oozing sap.
Only three streets--Fairorchard Avenue, Wawona Drive and Garden Glen Way--and fewer than 50 trees will be soaped up on Oct. 7, but Diquisto hopes that's enough of a start to show the city that something can be done to stop the aphids.
A more comprehensive plan, encompassing the entire area bound by Cherry, Foxworthy and Meridian avenues, stopping just north of Curtner Avenue, will go before the City Council on Oct. 19. If approved, the 600-tree project would fund pesticide sprays and a chemical injection at the trees' roots, rendering their bark and leaves poisonous to aphids and other bugs. The project would cost the city about $52,000--money that comes out of the neighborhood reserve funds.
"We hear every single person who calls us about the tulip-tree issue, and we're very aware of the problem," says Dawn Wright, Diquisto's aide. "But we're very limited in what we can do unless everyone on the council concurs." Diquisto is optimistic that the council will approve the funding for the tulip-tree plan, Wright says.
"It looks good that the plan will be approved on Oct. 19," Wright says.
And not a moment too soon, say local residents.
"Every time I drive down my parents' street it's horribly messy," says June Cooley, whose folks live on Fairorchard Avenue, one of the particularly sap-ridden streets in Willow Glen. "The sap's slippery, and you have to scrub extra hard to get it off your car. I know a number of residents would like to remove [the trees] and replace them with something less icky."
June's mom, Esther Cooley, wholeheartedly agrees.
"We've lived here 32 years, and those tulip trees have given us nothing but trouble," she says. "I walked two blocks a couple of weeks ago, and when I came home, my husband had to clean my shoes, they were so dirty. Wouldn't it be nice if they just took out all those tulip trees and planted a different tree instead?"
Normally, the city funds some type of tulip-tree relief for the sap-ridden neighborhood. This year, however, anticipating a deficit, Mayor Ron Gonzales asked all city departments to trim 5 percent from their budgets.
"We really had to be very selective on what budget battles we wanted to fight, and at that point our budget battle was to save [the hose wagon and one firefighter position at] Station 6."
Diquisto won that battle, and now it looks like he'll have similar success with the tulip trees, too.
|
|
|
|
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
