Thursday, September 10, 2009
News Trees — yes, trees — stolen along the Beltline
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 4:28 AM
Fox 5 reports that some of Atlanta's ne'er-do-wells have turned their sights toward pricey palm trees that were recently planted in Southwest Atlanta along the Beltline. Because copper, blue jeans and flat screens just weren't cutting it, we suppose.
The station reports that the $450-a-pop palm trees' roots were secured with rebar to prevent them from being uprooted. They were purchased with a grant provided by the Arthur Blank Foundation for the $2.8 billion project's arboretum, or "museum of trees."
Comments (15)
Showing 1-15 of 15
the palm trees are probably in mactown aka gansta-thug city, check on spring street near riverside drive. thats what you guys get for not printing more news from down here.
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Those green things were an illusion, not palm trees. Hence, we have yet another example of the perception of crime in the ATL.
To paraphrase Thomas Wheatley, this is why we can't have nice things in Atlanta.
I can't wait to see a photo of someone selling stolen palm trees out of the back of a truck. Honestly, I think it might have been a better plan to wait until the Beltline was built, had a positive economic/social impact on SW Atlanta communities, and lessened crime activity in that area before planting the expensive (and tempting) palm trees. Progress can happen in ATL but it will happen more smoothly if planned well. There -- I said it.
Darin: Shame on you! Rules and laws say that the phrases "Atlanta" and "planned well" may not appear in the same sentence.
Planting trees now is the smart thing to do; it takes years for many trees to get established and grow to a size adequate to provide shade and beauty. The idea that we should not plant trees because a few might get stolen is like saying we should not have sidewalks because someone might pee on them.
Poor Arthur. First he gets snookered by his star quarterback. Now his expensive trees go missing. Sometimes ya gotta wonder about rich kids and the choices they make.
What I would like to understand is where these trees are going to go and how they will be transported without someone spotting a palm frond blowing in the wind from under a tarp going down I-20. I mean seriously, folks, 11 trees? What's next? Monkey grass? I doubt there is a very good market for that though...
Thomas: Thanks for posting this story. Though we at Trees Atlanta were really distraught about losing these trees (twice!), this is not the first time that our trees have been stolen. In fact, we have had ENTIRE plantings removed within hours of being installed thanks to Atlanta, er, entrepreneurs. Regardless, the loss of these trees in the West End community is a big disappointment to the local neighbors--this neighborhood loves its trees both young and old.
I blame South Carolina. They didn't want us horning in on their Palmetto State action.
Is there any way to do the entire Beltline up in Alpharetta? That way, we wouldn't have to worry about this kind of crap happening.
What most do not know is that before a thief steals large palm trees, they all ready have a customer lined up before they remove them and have the resources to immediately replant them in their new location. This has been going on in other areas such as Florida and California for a while now. Some get stolen right out the owners very own yard while they are away on vacations etc. in broad daylight. If neighbors question them, they will say they are doing landscaping work for the owners to throw off the suspicious neighbors.
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