Stewardship of the
Lowly Planting Strip

Some of the most visible green spaces in the neighborhood are in front of your home or business. City-owned street rights-of-way include not only roadway, curbs, and sidewalks, but also strips of land on either side of the sidewalk. In the old days, that was accurately recognized as parkland, as in this original drawing for Franklin Avenue E. Nowadays, the land between the sidewalk and the curb is called the planting strip--but some landowners no longer keep anything planted there.

Although landowners have the lead in maintaining their public planting strips, their decisions can add up to whether our streets are barren or parklike. Many are helping make Eastlake a greener place. But some have paved their "planting strip" over, a step that encourages illegal parking and burdens the sewers and lake with runoff that cannot filter through the earth to nearby trees. Other landowners have replaced the soil with harsh pumice that allows nothing to grow and scatters along the sidewalk.

When large trees are in planting strips, their survival or removal can be a major question of public interest.In September the Seattle Engineering Department by the permission of nearby property owners cut down Eastlake's grandest old elm and hawthorn trees. This action was without notice to community organizations or the neighborhood planning process. Wider discussion might have saved these trees; their green canopy was a heritage given us by previous generations. We may never see their like again, given City pressure for new trees that cannot grow as tall or wide. Volunteers who wish to encourage stewardship of the neighborhood's planting strips may wish to get involved in neighborhood organizations.