Norton Hugs the 2nd Street Trees to Save Them (2/17/09)
Norton Hugs the 2nd Street Trees to Save Them
February 17, 2009
Washington, D.C. -- Following several meetings with the Office of the Architect of the Capitol and an on-site visit, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that the Architect has agreed to avoid cutting down ten ten-year-old Japanese Zilkova trees on Second Street N.E. as part of a security project at the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building. Instead, the same bollards that protect the Capitol will be used to ensure the security of the 2nd Street building, which houses the Administrative Offices of the U.S. Courts.
Concerned about security and saving healthy trees, Norton, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, visited the site. She concluded that bollards would clearly protect the building and that with care in placement of the bollards, the trees might be saved. The Congresswoman was told that the healthy trees would be discarded and could not even be replanted and she asked therefore that the trees be allowed to remain, at least for now. The Architect has agreed to take all reasonable efforts to work around the trees.
"I appreciate the Architect's willingness to protect the building as well as the trees," Norton said. "I admit that I wanted to hug these graceful trees. If the trees do not survive the bollards, there will be time enough to take them down. These trees may die in time, but so do people, and we don't kill them without exhausting all possibilities for life." Norton said nothing would be lost by allowing the trees to live while consulting with experts at the Arboretum to prolong their lives. She will meet with arborist experts this week.