Disabled man fights to save trees from being cut down for ADA-compliant sidewalk

By Marc Liverman

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — A physically disabled man is fighting to save more than a dozen downtown trees being removed for a new sidewalk accessibility project.

This comes as the city of Asheville says cutting them down is the only way to keep part of Patton Avenue in line with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Even with cracks snaking and stretching across the sidewalk like the roots that grow below it, Tom Nanney explained that it’s a sight that needs to stay if it means saving these trees.

Tom Nanney, a member of the National Arbor Day Foundation, said there are several reasons to keep the existing trees.

“They’ve been here for 50 years,” he said. “Because they give us oxygen…because they provide shade.”

Nanney added that he feels this way despite regularly using a walker to get around.

“I have a broken hip and a broken knee,” he explained.

Even as someone who may see some of the biggest benefits from a new sidewalk accessibility project, Nanney said he would rather see the city save the trees.

Asheville crews are cutting down around 18 trees along part of Patton near Coxe Avenue for the project.

To be ADA compliant, the city is repaving roughly two blocks, with the north side of the sidewalk slated to be worked on through the summer and into September.

The $300,000 project stretches roughly two blocks on both sides of the street, which the city said will be funded by a federal grant.

Chad Bandy, Asheville’s City Streets Division manager, explained that the old trees are just too much of a toe-tripping hazard. That’s why crews will be replacing the trees with new ones.

“It’s not accessible to all users,” Bandy explained, “and the ultimate goal of this project is to make this section — and we see how busy it is — accessible to anyone, regardless of ability.”

The plan now is to plant the new trees deeper down in the ground.

“The future trees will have a much longer, healthier life than these trees that were planted some years ago,” he said.

But for Nanney, that still doesn’t cut it.

“These trees, grand old trees, wonderful trees that have been here in Asheville for 50 years are going to be replaced by little old saplings,” he said. “You don’t have to cut the trees down.”

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