I dont think I have ever seen such a reaction to an issue as about trees in the neighborhood - being cut down at the corner of Jersey Ave and Newark, or not getting planted in front of businesses.

Steve Fulop's office has been working on this diligently for the past several days. The amount of misinformation and rumor going around is nuts.

Avanti Realty and Bouquets and Baskets were concerned about pet owners who dont clean up after their dogs and the nastiness and smell that leaves behind. cant say i blame them - i'm always cleaning up around the trees in front of my house. and hosing them down. sAlso, in the past trees have been vandalized and end up dying. so it seems the issue is more about irresponsible pet owners and vandalism to the trees than about trees pre se..

They are also concerned, based on the past (they have been in this neighborhood a very long time), that people wont take care of their trees and they end up dying and looking worse than if there hadnt been trees at all.

The trees will get planted, thanks to Steve Fulop and the local shops getting together and working out their concerns.

Let's show these guys that we appreciate their getting with the tree progam.

and we all should do our best to take care of all the trees in our neighborhood. Newly planted trees only need to be watered the first few months they are planted.

If you are a dog owner, as I am, please clean up after your pets and try not to bring them to the same spot every day. This will make a huge difference during those hot dry summer periods.

I have to commend Rick at Avanti and George at Bouquets and Baskets for putting up with all the flack these past few days. thank god there are some level heads on here (in the neighborhood and at Mr. Fulop's office) - boycotting a business over this is stupid and i regret my earlier remarks too!

There should have been more dialog among everyone concerned in the beginning, myself included. I just learned the hard way how badly, by acting on rumors and not the facts, we can disrupt the good that is being done in our neighborhood.

The SID's weekly monthly meeting is next Tuesday. If you want to voice your support for the trees and streetscape programs, I'm sure they would appreciate hearing it. The SID has done some great things for downtown and they need to know we appreciate there efforts.

The SID board is very concerned that the mtg will get out of hand, so please pleaseplease be respecful of differing opinioins if you do show up. It's an open mtg and anyone may attend.

If you want more information, go to www.jcdowntown.org.

by the way, the newark ave redevlopment plan has been in the works for years. there were several public hearings last year where anyone could have weighed in on the pros and cons of the plan. if you didnt want the trees cut down on that corner you should have gone to the mtgs. if more people had shown up, we'd still have those trees

i'm just learned the owner of Avanti Realty is on the board of the downtown special improvement district. The key word here is IMPROVEMENT. and then he refuses to plant a tree in front o fhis business?? Juat another case of do as i say, not as i do. personally, i ask why is he on that board? i want to see improvemnt!!!

Dont blame the businesses for cutting the trees down in Mercado Park - the city did it. It's part of the city's redevelopment plan for newark avenue.

Nobody walked through that corner anyway because there was so much bird shit and we couldnt get the city to clean it up. maybe your collections are down due the recession we're in????