Newcastle's Laman Street Trees - THE FACTS

[MrGirlbasher]

Tree loving hippy faggots make me sick, do something with your lives and contribute to society!!!

[chalkie1231]

The saddest thing about this fiasco ....There is deep division in our community which is already struggling with civil & respectful interaction..... In the end it is all over the word "RISK" Australians are now living with it and it has changed the way we live. We are a nation which has proven we can sustain any eventuality.... we can weather any storm..... but through the effective marketing of insurers.. who have found the golden goose.... we live in fear....Reform Compo laws Now !

[shillard]

Fact 51: Damn trees still haven't fallen down!

Fact: 52: Anti-fig sooks still sleep on plastic bedsheets.

Fact 53: More ratepayer dollars hosed up the wall than anyone cares to count - and that's before they start lopping them down - what will the bill for that be? No change out of $1.0M, you can be sure.

Hopeless. As usual. And now they reckon it will cost $15M+ to reopen the road after the Dore's rock fiasco? Dear God, how can these people live with themselves?

[heroicndashing]

I only wish that people would protest this much over every decision the council made, it is such bollocks that this has been left to go on for so long.

Cut them or keep them..its not rocket science, make a decision and stick with it!

[1997knightrider]

Council is hopeless and must go!

[Leighton3210]

Good on you, Bob! These SOF protesters are feral. What they're trying to do to this city should be criminal.

[defiant18]

Il be in town tomorrow to voice my opinion and if any sof try to stop me or touch me then i will gladly punch them in the face.

[defiant18]

SOF piss off, its clear by reading the comments here and in the herald that the vast majority of ppl want this over and done with n most support the removal of the trees. Newcastle has been held to ransom long enough by this small group of mis informed hippies, and yes there hippies cos they all stink, and they spit on ppl and harass other workers, fucking arrest the lot hose em down n thro them in jail, i had a mate who assaulted a cop n he got 3 monthes jail.

[defiant18]

I also spoke directly to a arrborist who was not connected to thi issue, it was just 2 blokes talking. He told me that yes they are old and since lopping stopped have become overgrown and dangeroues, sof have been told this yet continue to protest. piss off sweep them aside n fuck the trees off, most ppl from newcastle are sick of this shit, sof, fuck off ur not wanted.

[defiant18]

I went in town and voiced my views at laman st, witch is to tear them down, one of the hippie fags told me to fuck off n piss off, they then denied saying that despite multiple ppl saying that, and then later tried to convince me that i had said it never occured. These ppl are nothing but trashy smelly hippies with no job, sweep them aside n knock em down, i saw several of them assult police, yet they are not arrested, the council and police are too leniant on these misinformed ppl.

[dvdcrazy121]

Total f@#$ing bullshit

[majorityofnewcastle]

Thorough quality Bob. I have personally read all the reports that are all available for free for anyone to download! Save our Figs are clearly Mugs! With mental health issues! Save Newcastle From SOF, leave town, I hear there are trees in Tasmania, please go and take any muppet that you have convinced with you!

[defiant18]

facts are proven, save our figs, fuck off now, these ppl r just extremits, sweep them aside n get the job done.

[brutusstar]

lol. No worries Cook...I'll believe you when you remove the other number of fig trees around cooks hill which are tearing up the roads. Oh, and the figs of the same age in Islington Park...children play there. They must be unsafe too. Oh,. and Lambton Park, get busy there. May I also say that if we really want to get serious about 'killer' trees, you best remove all the over-sized gum trees in any park in newy. Funny, but they seem to fall more than the figs. Can anyone spell 'hidden agenda'??.

[arod1483]

@brutusstar Weak

[brutusstar]

@arod1483 actually it's cool arod...you're just a troll...commenting on all things figs. Your response was...weak :P

[Navigationism]

Just give them more room to grow and stop wasting money on research. These trees have been here before you! What is this going to look like when there are no trees there?!?!

Counsel shouldn't have won! The Mayor disagreed and the majority of the public disagreed to felling the trees!

[johnajohnston1]

about time. Tate.. what a joke.

[kroag]

I'll vote for you.

Finally a councillor who undestands

[kroag]

Finally, a good factual post !

[cyclepro101]

stupid tree huggers. Why dont u get a job and contribute to the comunity instead of protesting about something u know nothing about? I like the trees as much as anyone but when the Council insurance company has said they they will not renue the cover for the trees what else is council to do? If you took the time to see the plans NCC has for the street you will see that figs are to be replanted. I bet if any of your hippy mates got hit by a falling branch they would be the first to sue council.

[critproductions7]

@cyclepro101 WELL SAID!!!!

[mokook]

Timbeeeeerrrrrrrrrr.

[shillard]

Bob is concerned about "reputational damage" to NCC staff (and presumably the elected Councillors dancing to the strings pulled by those staff - 3 guesses, Bob) following a truly independant assesment. Well, at least he's honest about it. Not much more to be said on that point, really. Although I do wonder - has the Council wasted as much money on the figs yet as they did on that William IV replica boat?

[johnajohnston1]

@shillard honestly your commenting is so stupid and opinionated i cant tell whether your trolling or not. "so trim the damn things bob"? trim all the branches of 100yo+ fig trees? and all this ultra leftwing bullshit about corrupt government officials doing evil and nasty things just for funsies? im fairly sure your trolling. i actually salute you for this one :). well done :P

[johnajohnston1]

@shillard love how you dont reply to the substance of my last comment. so the other streets trees have been identified as at risk then? so sof is willing to insure them? is a 37 yo male that loves lego videos disputing the method of qtra/the australian standards in general? are you debating the windspeeds recorded by the beauro of meterology? or are you just banging on about how the governments evil and sof are perfectly fine running up a stupidly huge bill? stick to what your good at champ.

[shillard]

@johnajohnston1 - what substance? There was nothing of substance in your last post - or any prior posts. You're a transparent sock puppet for the bed-wetting ninnies who suckle on the teat of the ratepayer. Do you "duck and cover" when the winds cause the klaxons to sound in Laman St? Sook. The only "stupidly huge bill" to emerge is that due to NCC staff negligence, corrupt & deceptive conduct and incompetence. BTW: It's my 5yo son who loves the lego videos, but thanks for sharing.

[johnajohnston1]

@shillard yet again no reply of any substance. typical of sof mentality. your basically saying that because these trees exceeded by far the criterion for a significant structural failure in june 2007(ie one quater of a degree under 40%wind load) under the australian standards then the australian standards are wrong? please do explain how you came to this conclusion or your supporting research? once again your ability to argue without any supporting facts and just general opinions amazes me. fool

[dabble778]

Council have said the trees are so dangerous that if winds hit 50km/h all staff in the Library & Art Gallery are to leave immediately, out the front door, past... the Trees. (wtf?) That's how much Council cares about its staff. Zip. How come no-one can build an exit door out the back of the Gallery and Library? And, really, what would it cost? Monkeys.

[GTheEverWatchful]

The development scheme for Laman street, whether the figs are dangerous or not, is a folly when compared to the effort of established Newcastle arts and community workers who've put Newcastle on the map ahead of other capital cities that have suffered from losing their connection to Australian culture.

This connection to culture is what makes Newcastle strong, and ignoring it will cost more than this redevelopment.

The community needs a council that'll work with it, not compete for the spotlight

[johnajohnston1]

Save our figs have wasted over half a million to get to the point they were in 2 years ago. The very fact that they put the people who are paying that money in danger is morally reprehensable. They have repeatedly and unashamedly distorted the truth in allmost every instance in order to make their ill thought out point. No one wants to see the trees go and it will be terrible for them not to be there but for god sake see reason and stop wasting my fellow novocastrians money on your stupid point.

[lloydrough]

How many people died last year from being hit by a falling tree? Is this a common problem?

[shillard]

Another few weeks, another few storms, still no Fig Tree apocalypse. What a wank.

[celkin03]

It is understandable that people would like the trees to be kept, however if one of those trees was to fall it could be devastating to surrounding buildings (including homes) and structure which could cost a lot more than the cost of cutting down the tree. It goes without saying that a persons life, a child's life is far superior to that of a tree. This is the fact!

[Celarion]

Big thumbs up for the disc golf course out at Jesmond. It's awesome.

[shillard]

Bob's video is utterly laughable:

"Since 2000 almost 30 figs and other large trees have failed"....so less than 3 per year on average, in the whole LGA. Interestingly, on the one sheet shown in the video 6 of 15 trees aren't even Hills Figs - stretching the truth just a tad, eh Bob?

"They are exceptionally top-heavy!" So trim the damn things, Bob.

"The Pasha storm caused 2 of the trees to rock!" But none to fall. Nor have any since.....what a disgrace. Shame Bob, shame.

[johnajohnston1]

@shillard so the only thing that you find wrong with the facts of the video is that he showed is that he showed a different variety of fig? id love to see you try and put up a factual argument against this evidence that isnt full of grandstanding biased bullshit you people usually use.

[shillard]

@johnajohnston1 - Plenty of the trees listed aren't even FIGS! And 3 per year - seriously, more danger of being killed by a bee-sting. If you're wetting the bed at the thought of a wayward branch falling on your head, stay the hell away from Laman St - and Regent Park, and Parry St, and...........

Grandstanding? How many branches have fallen in all of the severe weather lately? Well? Do tell.......

Clown.

[johnajohnston1]

@shillard yep blah blah, chance ... bee sting... whatever. Same type of bullshit argument SOF allways use. Are you trying to say that regent and parry st have been identified as at risk too? or that you would be willing to churn through another 600k? The very fact of the matter is the council is not going to be insured against the event of someone being injured by those figs. Even if you take our the reprehensable morality of the SOF spending the money of the people who they are putting at risk.

[johnajohnston1]

@shillard seriously what severe weather? have you even looked at the 1170.2 wind code? the trees have to survive servicability case of V20 and strength case of V500. you are joking if you think that we have had those windspeeds in the last year. seems to be that your kind seems to think that yelling louder than the other side is a substitute for substance. grow up, get a life and for god sake if your trying to put forth an intelligent account of yourself either get qualified or stop talking.

[platformone]

Just because people want trees kept does not mean that they are "tree huggers". Their are times to cut down trees, and times to save them.

[2010taniant]

We all love those fig trees, but it is a sad fact of life, they have to go....

everything in life evolves and changes and the streetscape of Newcastle or Laman

Street is no different. Lets plan for the future and create a place that we can enjoy and be safe, without wasting more money trying to fight the inevitable...

[shillard]

@2010taniant - What a bunch of bollocks. The only inevitability is the corrupt and incompetent behaviour exhibited by NCC Councillors and the inmates in charge of their asylum - the Council staff who are hell-bent on removing THESE trees (none other - regardless of their value or otherwise) so they can realise their Laman St art gallery vision.

[dabble778]

@2010taniant The safest place I guess would be a plain, with no cars or trees or houses or attacking birds or people. Of course then there's the Sun... Seriously though, yes, all things change, but only when they have to. The decision to expand the Art Gallery and Library were made with a view to move the trees regardless. What the Council did was lie. It knew the trees were safe, they just kept choosing experts until they found one who would say they are not safe.

[johnajohnston1]

@dabble778 how many reports say that they should be removed? how many reports insist they pose an acceptable amount of risk? it will be interesting to see what this next independant report will show. i suppose if it says to chop them like all the others then everyone will be fine with it then? :P

[dabble778]

@johnajohnston1 I've been to several of these meetings / gatherings, and I haven't met 1 person who isn't okay with the figs being felled IF an independent (someone not from the Council, or associated with the people from the Gallery / Library or the Developers) assessor says the trees are dangerous and cannot even be trimmed. Me included. There's a lot of slipperyness here, including :WHY can't the library be expanded BACK towards Cook Hill Book way. There's a huge car park that could be used.

[johnajohnston1]

@dabble778 so what your saying is that sof and all of the other vocal independant groups will be absolutly fine when another independant report comes through advising removal? im very keen to see how this theory goes :).

[dabble778]

@dabble778 (2) Also, WHY can't the Gallery be built upwards? Or another gallery built? or The Post Office on Hunter and Bolton bought and turned into a wonderful mini-Sydney-type Gallery?

[dabble778]

@dabble778 (2) Also, WHY can't the Gallery be built upwards? Or another gallery built? or The Post Office on Hunter and Bolton bought and turned into a wonderful mini-Sydney-type Gallery?

[XanderBingo]

Bob Cook presents a convincing argument for the removal of the trees. After watching this, I am inclined to agree with him and am awaiting Save Our Figs to produce their YouTube rebuttal.

[platformone]

If ANY tree is dangerous, then sure cut them down, however these figs have survived very strong winds and storms. I believe their maybe some other things (that we are not being told) behind this video.

[platformone]

At the moment, they are just a waste of money and nuisance.

But whatever decision is made, it is time to remove the fence.

[endracismguy]

Newcastle is just a cess pit of do-gooders ,wowsers ,safety experts and very old and stuffy Bureaucrats thats why the place is such the boring ,falling apart city it is ,every other Australian city has overtaken Newcastle which will continue on its path to rot

[Ekka007]

Very well researched and done. Seldom are extremists of either polarity reasonable (tree huggers vs tree haters).

On Treeworld we have watched this case closely. Just like the deniers of global warming throwing up objections and running people around to research inuendo so have the Save the Figs group done same. In forums we call those people TROLLS.

Sometimes too much democracy is not good, especially when dealing with extremists. Enough time and money wasted .... now it's time to move ahead.

[mrbransdon]

The residents in my street are also concerned about the Fig trees in front of our houses... They are the same species and have also been subject to root pruning... It's interesting how council are happy to pay for our sewer to be cleaned out every 6 months when the tree roots block it, and pay for the damage it causes to our driveways etc... Yet they won't replace the trees!!! This is peoples lives we're talking about.. No wonder the insurance won't cover them!