Kiss Your Ash Tree Good-Bye

The critter, Emerald Ash Borer, hitchhiked
from China via crating for heavy consumer products. Millions of Ash trees have been destroyed in the Midwest in an attempt to control the spread of the EAB. Chalk up another social cost of international globalization to the U.S. taxpayer.

By 2008 the EAB had landed in Arlington Heights in a big way. Of the 36,000 parkway trees in town 13,000 are Ash trees. This does not include Ash trees on private property.

The top canopy of the Ash tree is the first to be destroyed by the Borer infestation. This is a huge safety hazard in an urban setting. A liability the Village Board had better not take lightly.

Now a group of reactionary Arlington Heights citizens want to save the insect infested Ash trees for aesthetic purposes. Treatment options with public/private cooperation and cost/benefit have been analyzed and re-analyzed.

The sad fact is the bug won this one. The infected Ashtrees especially on The Village Parkway must be removed as soon as possible for the sake of safety and to cooperate with regional efforts to control the pest.

It is baffling what can pass for activism in Arlington Heights. A crony administration remains firmly entrenched on the Village Board. They have handed out tax breaks to campaign contributors, over paid for a theater and then built a Taj Mahal monument to themselves.

Consequently, the Board has had to raise all real estate taxes. Taken together it has resulted in a downtown district with a pathetically high vacancy rate, even during good economic times. Yet somehow trying to save an insect-infested plant will raise more local passion.

Cartoon by Gary Mayer