Royal Oak deja vu: Anyone remember the big oak left 'protected' on the Aspen Ridge site in 2005? It soon died as will thick ancient oak that was to be 'protected' on the Campus Crest/ The Grove site

City's new urban forester or whoever was acting in that capacity when The Grove was approved required only this one tree to be protected. But nobody told the guys driving the machines or wanting to park in the shade or those who dumped various debris and red dirt under the tree's drip line and over its roots. Same thing that happened to some other 'protected' trees on the failed Aspen Ridge site now called The Hill Place. When members of the city council vote to approve a development or vote to rezone land for development, they also need to require the developer to provide funding so that the city can hire a full-time inspector to be at EACH SITE during ALL working hours. That way the promises would have to be kept and maybe the workers from out of state might learn to respect the rules designed to protect the watershed and to reduce the 'heat-island' effect. And while I was making some of those photos a funeral was going on in the Fayetteville National Cemetery with endless noise from the construction across the street. Are they going to work on Independence Day?