Laman St Fig Trees

The fate of a street full of Morton Bay Fig trees is a big story here in Newcastle. Our City Council is in favour of following the arborists advice and insurers concerns and want to cut down the trees. We're talking major 100 year old canopy across from our city Library and Art Gallery and above a traditional Civic Park and fountain. The Mayor is aligning himself with the community group 'Save our Figs' and there's a call for 'independent assessment.' The Council do have the problem of an insurer now unwilling to cover in the event of public liability vs the PR problem of redevelopment plans and lack of willingness for further assessment. I have to state that I don't find Morton Bays attractive, though this streets cape is impressive. I have read about these trees before when some were removed from Lambton and Islington Parks. It does seem they have a safe and healthy life span of just over the hundred years and do begin to drop branches and start to die. Someone planted them back then... would it be so bad to see them out and new trees planted that we know will in the future give similar pleasure to future generations... It's a really tough call about change, decisionmaking, power and community reaction. At the moment the Security and project costs approach $1 million and the Art Gallery and Library are now apparently closed indefinitely because of security concerns and the need for the workers to have a safe environment... Is it a metaphor for other change scenarios? Does it have anything to say? Is it a reminder of stakeholders around an adaptive challenge and the need to do better at taking people along, explaining what's happening, why such change is needed and what the new future might look like... Even if we can't really see it... I wonder whether the Council should simply have sought the assessment and why there's no other insurer offering to jump in? The trees do look spectacular, but they ruin the footpath and road, are unsafe to walk around if you're not careful it's easy to trip. Other independent articles ive read talk about them as trees with a life span that does end. I think they're ugly at the trunk/roots level... that's just my view. I think I also understand why people want to protest and feel they are not getting a fair go... The whole episode stinks!!! So one lesson is that if you don't trust the decision maker it'll be hard to get people onboard. More soon...