ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, December 30, 2011
www.issaquahreporter.com
City cuts socks, trees from front of Starbucks
Anna Algate, right, plants a red cedar at Park Pointe in Issaquah. Michaela Knollmann, bottom, plants a tree on behalf of her mother, Maureen McCarry, who purchased them with money she won from a city environmental award. McCarry, who is struggling with Lou Gehrig’s diseases, couldn’t attend the event. CELESTE GRACEY,
BY LINDA BALL Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter
Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
ROOTED IN THE HEART Volunteers plant 120 trees at Park Pointe, donated by Maureen McCarry BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Before her Lou Gehrig’s disease diagnosis, Maureen McCarry spent her last year on Issaquah City Council working on a project that would preserve Park Pointe. When the city recognized her work with a prestigious environmental award, she spent the prize money on trees for the property. But it wasn’t until her daughter, 13-year-old Michaela Knollmann, helped plant the trees herself Wednesday that she understood everything her mother worked toward. “She was really proud that I’d do this for her,” she said, with a shovel in hand and fresh mud on her sneakers. McCarry couldn’t physically make it to the event. A small group of volunteers planted about 120 trees Wednesday with $1,000 from McCarry, who matched
her prize money before giving it to the Issaquah Environmental Council earlier this year. There are about 30 acres on the property that are filled with invasive plants, 12-foot blackberry bushes, and various rubbish, including about 80 tires, a boat and abandoned cars.
Matt Mechler, who oversees parks volunteer projects, spent the summer mowing down the blackberry bushes and digging up tires, which still had their rims. His hope is that the new cedars will drown out enough light that the blackberry bushes won’t make a comeback. There are still plenty more invasive plants to mow down. In the middle of a cleared field stands a pile of bushes. Mechler tried to tear them down, but he hit too much waste, including used barrels. He hopes to use partnerships with IEC and Mountain to Sound Greenway to restore the 104-acre property. Paul Algate brought his 13-yearold daughter Anna to tree planting project. After all that Christmas pudding, it was good to get outside again, he said, but he also did it on behalf of McCarry. The Park Pointe land was preserved through a Transfer of Development Rights deal that allowed developers to build in a different part of the city. If the city can grow while keeping its focus on the outdoors, it strikes a good balance, Algate said. Issaquah Reporter staff writer Celeste Gracey can be reached at 425-391-0363, ext. 5052.
Either you loved them or you hated them. It doesn’t seem there was any in-between. Just about a year ago, fiber artists Suzanne Tidwell and Beth Newfeld covered the six 20-foot tree stumps in front of the Starbucks at Northeast Fourth Street and 228th Avenue Northeast near Eastlake High School, with winter-themed knit “socks” which eventually segued into spring and autumn socks. The public art display was never a permanent installation - it was only commissioned through the end of this year said Sammamish deputy city clerk Melonie Anderson. Allison Gubata, one of the city’s liaisons to the arts commission said the socks were removed Dec. 16 with the trees sawed off to the ground the next day, since they were dead. Anderson said the cost to carve them was too expensive. The trees were in a city right-of-way so it was left up to the public works department to mend the site. City engineer Jeff Brauns said there was no disturbance to the land since the tree trunks were shaved down to the ground. The piece of property will remain a planter strip between the sidewalk and the curb. “We may re-evaluate whether or not to add some plantings in the spring,” Brauns said. The sock art caused quite a stir, even prompting a Facebook page called The sock-covered tree stumps “Cut Down the Tree in from of the Starbucks on Stumps Near Sam228th Avenue Northeast had mamish’s Eastlake both supporters and critics. Starbucks.” LINDA BALL, Issaquah/Sammamish Tidwell and Reporter Newfeld funded the winter socks on their own; the spring installation was funded by a grant from 4Culture with summer/fall installation was sponsored by Lion Brand Yarn. Tidwell and Newfeld are also known for their knit installations in Seattle’s Occidental Park, and for knitting a scarf for the Fremont Troll.
Linda Ball can be reached at 206-232-1215.