Editorial: Drake High should spare its 2 big palm trees

Solution: Keep the palms and fire the idiot(s) who thought of the idea to remove them.

that school thinks its a private school.
We pay taxes to run that place, yet i cant swim in the pool unless i pay alot.
Havent i paid enough?
I also resent the ball fields are closed off to residents.

over the past six years or so, drake has seemed to lose sight of its community; often employing draconian measures unnecessarily. six years ago they nearly were successful in felling the only big redwood tree on campus in favor of astroturf tracks. were it not for an observant teacher who noticed it missing from the blueprints, followed by a groundswell of community opposition, the tree would be mulch by now. flash forward: the palms. as a former life-long marin resident, i passed the palms 5-l0 times daily. they are a visual respite from the asphalt, pot holes and tons of rolling metal. the pastoral spaces need not disappear. armed guards, surveillance cameras, and concrete: sounds more like san quentin than a marin high school.

f. data
chandler, az

They have been there 80 years and just now they are causing problems in the creek?
If they would grow there would be hundreds all over the place.

Those palm trees have been there longer than most "Marinites" now living in Marin. My husband was born and raised in San Anselmo, graduated from Drake in 1961, our son graduated in 1993. To the whoevers who thought this up, get a life! Every other year, or whatever it takes, take out the saplings. Let the people of Marin enjoy something that has withstood high winds, floods and a bunch of idiots who have nothing better to do.

I remember those trees forty years ago, they are in the middle of a parking lot. how do they interfere with the creek or any thing ells?! They are a landmark in the true sense or the meaning or the word. The only thing I would be worried about is that they might be at the end of their life cycle, therefore a possible safety risk during a storm as their root system may fail in soggy soil, and high winds. they survived the last storm with gale force winds!

The palm trees are a welcome sight along that stretch of Drake. Diversity is good both at a high school and with trees. I think they should prune the shoots and spare the majestic trees for many generations of students and travelers along Drake to enjoy.

This case is emblematic of oppressive political correctness. I am nauseated at the hideous creed of 'native species only' coming out of east coast environmental science colleges. This also smells like SPAWN. If a non native plant is functioning peacefully in it's surroundings, it's STUPID to remove them. But of course one only needs an 8th grade education and a PTA carreer to get on one of these school boards. Try some critical thinking skills and weigh the value of existing plant. Don't even start with the water. To argue water savings is purely symbolic. How about someone get off your rear and go take out the seedlings once in awhile. Oh wait, that probably takes 2 years , a subcontractor, and 25 meetings to accomplish. Woody Allen said it right; "those who can't 'do' teach"......"and those who can't teach....teach gym" One could add "those who can't teach gym sit on school boards."

Once again, the school district is NOT cutting the trees down because they are non-native. They feel they are justified because of the perceived harm to the creek. The non-native angle just plays into part of the equation.

Again, I graduated from Drake many years ago, and those trees just keep on - they're healthy, they're beautiful, I say let them live out their natural lives. This non-native business - by that standard we should chain saw every eucalyptus tree in the county (actually, maybe we should ...). Let the trees stand.

Martina2 wrote:

Again, I graduated from Drake many years ago, and those trees just keep on - they're healthy, they're beautiful, I say let them live out their natural lives. This non-native business - by that standard we should chain saw every eucalyptus tree in the county (actually, maybe we should ...). Let the trees stand.

I agree with you the two big trees should stay. The fact that they are non-native is not why they were going to remove them though. It's unfortunate but typical of this board that the non-native stuff became the focus of the discussion here.

I am pretty certain the two big trees will stay for what that may be worth.

The palm trees are beautiful, and they have a purpose, they have been there longer than some of the people who live here. Today as I was passing the palm trees, going towards C.M. I noticed so many palm trees, everywhere, different sizes wow, there wonderful trees, please do not cut the the two palm trees down, by the way they can handle any kind of weather, even the drought. What more can one ask from a plant or a Palm Tree,
Cathy D.

They don't belong here. Some Hawaiin or foreigner frim a tropical area put them there. you would never be allowed to plant them today.
Thet have taken over the natural native vegaatables.
They shuld be removed like all the eucalipus.

Pals are evil non native wrote:

They don't belong here. Some Hawaiin or foreigner frim a tropical area put them there. you would never be allowed to plant them today.
Thet have taken over the natural native vegaatables.
They shuld be removed like all the eucalipus.

Are you for real, I can not believe what you wrote, you know because of the lack of rain in this area, people are purchasing plants that come from areas that can handle less water, nothing wrong with that, and a lot of those plants are not native,

Pals are evil non native wrote:

They don't belong here. Some Hawaiin or foreigner frim a tropical area put them there. you would never be allowed to plant them today.
Thet have taken over the natural native vegaatables.
They shuld be removed like all the eucalipus.

You should be removed....

Drake Pirate Parent wrote:

Once again, the school district is NOT cutting the trees down because they are non-native. They feel they are justified because of the perceived harm to the creek. The non-native angle just plays into part of the equation.

the 'non native angle' is the hidden agenda, is the trojan horse.

We are not in Hawaii or on an exotic island in the pacific. They don't belong here.
The are totally unnatural. They should go with the illegal aliens. They don't belong here.

Not right to be here wrote:

We are not in Hawaii or on an exotic island in the pacific. They don't belong here.
The are totally unnatural. They should go with the illegal aliens. They don't belong here.

Oh, it is you again, I should have know so, you have nothing nice to say about anything, or anyone

Whats nice about massive gigantic encroaching UNNATURAL vegatation! How about a banana tree in the middle of the furniture store?
They should be native redwoods.

How much money does it cost to micromanage Drake HS? First the tree on the football field.....I think I read somewhere it cost 100k to make accomodations for it.....how much/$/time for the ugly palm tree decision?? There must be a better use of everyone's time...