FOGHORN: A place to sound off

Published 1:26 pm Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The positives of photinia

An open letter to the Kingston community and Kitsap County Department of Parks and Recreation:

I love leaves. I respect what leaves do in our environment. The much-maligned photinia hedge that hides the Kingston Village Green construction site does eight positive things for us and because it is not deciduous, it does these year round.

It cleans the air of pollution and toxins from the cars on busy West Kingston Road.

It collects dust from the excavation work.

It muffles to a degree the construction noise.

It drinks water! The uplands surface water management issue is huge for us living in the lowlands.

It provides red leaves, abundant white flowers that smell like vanilla, and berries and would hide the unsightly fence if it was to be moved behind it.

It will provide a bit of a screen for those in the future who will play in the park or enjoy a picnic. Who wants ferry traffic whizzing by an otherwise peaceful outdoor space?

It hides a far too familiar view of a construction site.

It can be pruned.

What removal will NOT do is eliminate so-called vandalism or unwanted behavior because:

The behavior will move someplace else.

There are no alternatives to replace such behavior.

It sends a message of “us” not “them.”

Because several neighbors do not feel my love for leaves and because I do not speak up, the Kingston Community News reported (in an article last month) the photinia are as much as gone. I surely hope it will be reconsidered. I am a right-across-the-street neighbor. Thanks for listening.

Marilyn Liden Bode

West Kingston Road