Below we present an open letter addressed to Piotr Roman, which we received from Danuta Maślicka:
I live in a housing estate of stumps—that is what one of the residents of St. Starzyńskiego Street in Bolesławiec said. I would go even further: “I live in a city of stumps.” For how else can one describe a city where officials have declared war on trees, where people forget that public space is a common good belonging to citizens and that, consequently, their opinions should be taken into account and considered when making decisions that affect them.
The best illustration of the fact that this does not happen is my fight for the trees on St. Starzyńskiego Street. A fight I lost.
When a crane arrived in the spring and the branches of a magnificent, healthy tree began to be sawn off, my intervention with the manager of the Housing Cooperative’s administration was successful—the “operation” was stopped. But December came, and pleading did not help; no arguments could stop the saw.
Helpless, I watched those healthy branches, which posed no threat to anyone, those protruding stumps, those “plucked” birch trees where magpies had built their nests, and tried to find out who had made such a decision and what arguments justified disfiguring the trees—and the street along with them. A beautiful view? A flowering tree (which someone called a weed)? Shade during hot summers, shielding children playing on the grass? A wall of greenery absorbing the “odors” from the nearby dumpster? The city’s lungs? Pure aestheticism, isn’t it?
I was told in response that this was a decision of the management board, supported by an “expert assessment” from Mr. Wolański, at the request of one of the residents, whose sunlight on the balcony was blocked by the tree in summer. And such extremely individualistic thinking, which does not serve the majority, was elevated to the status of an argument. And why, I ask the administrative manager, were the other residents not consulted? Perhaps dialogue could have produced rules of conduct that would harm neither nature nor people?
There are more examples of such thoughtless actions. For instance: ten young trees were cut down in the park on the side of Zygmunta Augusta Street. They had become part of the row of trees along the sidewalk, providing a beautiful finishing touch to this section of the park. This example also illustrates the points made above, as well as the fact that we hold the nature surrounding us in no regard. Please look at these healthy stumps and ask whose selfish demands were accommodated here.
I am not discussing cut branches and trees that pose a threat, because that is obvious. Though I can give the example of a dead tree on Konradowska Street that could be broken by the slightest gale. It is still standing and endangering the safety of passers-by.
Mr. Mayor, I am sending you this letter because the matter concerns more than just one street in our city. I know cities comparable to ours where such degradation as described above is not permitted.
I once went to City Hall to complain that our city was “going bald,” and received a response from the spokeswoman that new plantings were being made. To this day, those plantings have not appeared in the indicated locations. And while I am at it, let me ask about the benches, of which we have so many in various parts of the city, yet sitting on them is impossible because of birds. Is it so difficult to find suitable locations for them? Someone might get the idea that it would be easier to cut down the tree on which the troublesome birds perch?
Please do not treat this letter as interference or an attempt to cause trouble, but as an expression of civic engagement, as a voice raised on behalf of many people who care about what the place where they have come to live looks like.
We appreciate what has been done, but planting shrubs and boxwood in the city center does not solve the problem (although you deserve credit for it). There is also the area outside the center, which should likewise receive attentive care, rather than being left to the arbitrary actions of officials who, for example, cut down a lilac bush because someone finds it obstructive.
Danuta Maślicka. Doctor of humanities, during the period of the Polish People’s Republic an activist in NSZZ “Solidarność.” A longtime teacher and director of the Bolesławiec Cultural Center, and author of, among other works, the book “Znikopis. Pamiętasz, była solidarność.”
(information: DM/ii)