TREE-CUTTING SETTLEMENT BUYS NEW LANDSCAPING AROUND KIRBY DR. WENDY’S 
City council approved a measure last week to spend $300,000 from a special fund for Houston parks on the installation of 6 new live-oak trees on the right-of-way surrounding the Wendy’s drive-thru restaurant at 5003 Kirby Dr. That’s the now-mostly treeless corner of North Blvd. pictured here, where crews hired by the franchise owner, Mohammed Ali Dhanani of Haza Foods, removed 6 old live-oak trees at night last October. The budget for the replacement includes removing what remains of the 6 stumps, installation of irrigation and subdrainage systems, and a 2-year warranty for the new trees, which will measure between 14 and 16 inches in diameter. The allotted budget matches the amount Dhanani paid in a settlement to the city for the incident last year. Any amount left over will be used for “additional improvements within City rights-of-way or park lands” approved by the Houston Parks Board director. [City of Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
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I’m a little dubious about the stated size of the new trees. 16-inch caliper is not an in-stock item at any tree farm I’ve found. Maybe there’re being dug out of Dhanani’s estate.
Swamplot: Houston’s Tree Blog
Lets hope they pick the right kind of tree. And if it needs its own irrigation, its probably not the right kinda of tree.
Enough already with the tree articles every day. What does this have to do with Houston real estate?
trees, or lack thereof can alter the price of real estate, so trees have everything to do with real estate.
A beautiful and just use of the money.
It is time for business to learn respect to trees and their value.
htownproud: last time I looked, Houston real estate often has trees attached. Trees can affect land values, and obviously, when an ordinance is in place, can result in fines for illegal removal. Its like saying that removing a building on a piece of land where prohibited by law is somehow not a real estate issue.
Enough with the anti-tree-story comments, is this Houston’s stop-the-tree-stories blog?
(My unofficial (dubious) math has the anti tree story comments running 5:1 to the tree stories).
Tsk tsk tsk. Didn’t the Dhanini. brothers know that the right answer wasn’t to cut down those trees. It was to go up to Austin and lobby for the State Government take away local governments’ rights to protect trees! Governor Abbott is all about that sort of thing. It’s now or never.
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Then they could cut all he trees they want, and nobody would ever hassle them. Their competitors could do it, too. Heck they could make the whole City look like Phoenix.
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/ end sarcasm.
This money shouldn’t be used to beautify their property. Spend 275k to plant trees elsewhere in the city, and use the remaining 20=5k to erect an 8 foot tall corrugated metal fence on the city’s right of way surrounding the Wendy’s.
make that 25k. Me no type good.
Totally agree with Mr. Fudge. Maybe the kind of fence they put up around tow impound lots, scrap metal dealers, and auto pick-a-part places.
It’s as if people who are not interested in trees still feel the need to click on the story, read it and express the fact that they are tired of the subject. You are not required to read every post. You will not be tested at the end of the semester.
Really council?! REALLY?! $.3mill could fix a LOT of potholes, or better yet?! Upgrade some of our infrastructure inside the loop?
Or are we just going to keep pushing it off for another 30+ years…. Hmm
Ohh I almost forgot, we have business Owners to help pay for ROW infrastructure improvements.
Given how little space exists in that strip, are 6 live oaks REALLY what should go back there? I love oak trees and all, but I don’t get the fascination with them in the right-of-way as they tear up everything around them. Heck, plant a bunch of Crape Myrtles for $10k and spend the rest elsewhere! In reading the provision, I don’t think they anticipate spending all $300k, so hopefully the amount is FAR less and there is another part of the city that will benefit…far away from Haza Foods reach.
I like the idea of taking that $300K and replacing the trees in the same spot. That way the Third Worlder who whacked the trees sees that his $300K was a pure waste of money since he won’t have the benefit of the higher visibility that he apparently was seeking.
crape myrtles?
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They need Oleander. It will grow fast, and thick, and it will flower from May till October. The bonus is, if they decide to spend the money to have them chopped down to stumps, it will grow back faster and bigger and thicker.
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The city could get about 40 of these at Houston Garden center for $30 per 1 gallon bucket. I bet they’d even cut them a deal for bulk.
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before you even know it, no one will even know there was a Wendy’s there to begin with.
I am mystified by the frequent hand-wringing over live oaks “messing up the pavement” inasmuch as a number of Texas towns feature live oaks smack dab in the middle of the road: Columbus and La Grange are especially well-known for it. Here’s a tree in the street in Baytown:
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGulfCoastTowns/BaytownTexas/BaytownTreeInStreet503.jpg
I suspect the pavement will continue doing whatever it was doing, absent the trees.
as an added bonus for the Oleander, it’s an evergreen.
@Dana-X, it’s hard to make the Third Worlder argument when he paid a $300k fine at the drop of a hat and without skipping a beat. That’s 10 years salary of what 1/3 of US workers make and I suspect yourself as as well. Who’s the Third World here?
Kineticd: My guess is they wanted to use the fine assessed by chopping down trees to replant trees in the same location. Putting the tree-chopping-fine into the general fund to fix unrelated issues wouldn’t have had the same feeling of ‘justice’
Progg- It’s called “feedback”. Look it up in a dictionary.
@commonsense
Pablo Escobar was on Forbes top ten richest people in the world. He still couldn’t bust out of that reputation of being a piece of garbage human being with third-world values. Money doesn’t make values and values don’t make money.
@Zzzz
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It’s called “restraint” – look it up!
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p.s. I find it sweet that you think Swamplot needs or wants either validation or feedback or disapproval on every subject they cover. Your clicks or lack thereof say it all.
Someone cares what you find sweet?
Why stop at trees? Why don’t we get a story every time a business chops down some precious shrubs? This is a real estate blog.