Hartford in Progress july1012 - Hartford Police Department - City of ...

Letter from the Executive DirectorBY RON PITZHartford Garden Club Plants Trees!!Good friendships grow stronger through community service. The Hartford Garden Club broughtboth friendship and sweat equity to South Downtown in May. With shovels in hand and a positiveoutlook, the club members dug holes, rolled trees by the root ball, and tamped dirt around the heartysaplings. Four dozen trees went into the ground that morning, half in South Downtown and halfin the Charter Oak Sheldon Street neighborhoods. The trees were generously funded by the GardenClub of Hartford and the City. Pictured left to right are Ron Pitz, Mally and Jim Cox-Chapman.The Forest You Always Dreamed OfThe USDA Forest Service, Northeast AreaState and Private Forestry granted Knox$125,000 over three years to develop acomprehensive, community-based modelfor urban forestry in the 21st century. Withmatching funds, this project will empowerKnox and the community to:1) Plant 600 new trees2) Train 75 tree tenders to care for 1,800trees3) Provide workshops in urban forestry4) Assist in Hartford’s development of anUrban Forestry Plan5) Bring Knox’s Trees for HartfordNeighborhood Model to other forestsin Connecticut.Knox engages Greater Hartford citizensin tree plantings every year. We cannotwait to train Hartford’s dedicated environmentaliststo care for Hartford’s new trees.Our urban cores cry for green infrastructure.This project will provide fresh air,shade, and clean water to Connecticut’scities for centuries to come.Community Garden Tour and DinnerPut on your walking shoes and sunglasses for the Garden Tour turned Dinner. We’ll meetat the House of the Good Shepherd at 5:15 on Thursday, August 2nd. The buses (actuallyan air-conditioned bus and an open air trolley) will depart at 5:30 sharp. Cycling enthusiastswill coordinate a bike tour to shadow the bus route. The tour will include a stop at 4gardens and return to Good Shepherd for cocktails and an al fresco dinner as the sun sets.Hartford’s best chefs will prepare specialty dishes with locally grown foods. And, as if thiscould get any better, a quartet from the Hartford Symphony Orchestra will provide musicfor the evening! Knox is organizing a special silent auction, with an assortment of terracotta pots hand-painted by local celebrities! All in all, this is the go-to event of the summer!Tickets are available at www.knoxparks.org or by calling 860-951-7694.Volunteer Value: Hours x Number of Volunteers =Premium Dollars + Community StrengthKnox is very fortunate and privileged tohave a strong, active and engaged volunteer“army” dedicated to maintaining andpreserving Hartford’s spectacular greenspaces. We organize and mange over 2,000volunteers annually. So far this year, 1,332stalwarts joined hands and hearts toenhance our Capital City through a varietyof environmental projects: tree plantings,community garden expansions, gardensreturning to Hartford schools, clean upand beautification of our precious parksand numerous neighborhood cleanups.The dollar value is amazing: 1,332 volunteersput in a total of 4,552.5 hours forBY: H. CHARMAINE CRAIG$99,199.00 in kind service!Our volunteer force is comprised of:Corporate Partners - Aetna, The Hartford,Kohls, United HealthCare, REI, Prudentialand Pratt & Whitney, EDI Landscape andTD Bank. Community Partners – GardenClub of Hartford, Watkinson School,Trinity College, JC Clark Elementary,Pathways to Technology High School,Kingswood Oxford, Open Hearth, HYPE,Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, CRT,Northeast Organic, Farmers Association,the Hartford Job Corp, the Village forChildren and Families, and the Yale Clubof Hartford.Hartford’s Urban Trees are the lungsof the city! City-dwelling trees provideessential oxygen and theirleaves filter tiny particles of dust, ash,pollen and pollution that cause or worsenthe effects of asthma.Another benefit that we derive from treesis the absorption of storm water runoff.Without trees, this runoff picks up toxicsubstances like oil and anti freeze and contaminatesbodies of water and our drinkingwater supplies.Trees serve as air conditioners as their fullleaved crowns createshade and moisturewhich cool buildings andcity streets. This coolingeffect allows us to use lessenergy to cool our buildings.Trees provide habitatfor wildlife. They are akey link in the ecosystemthat sustains us all.During photosynthesis,trees take in and storecarbon dioxide (whichcauses climate change)and they give off oxygen.It is our responsibilityto make sure that thebenefits of trees remainfor future generations. Tomaintain these benefits,we need to maintain ourtrees! Trees, like any living thing, have aproductive lifespan. Like us, they needmore maintenance as they age.Hartford has a backlog of tree maintenanceafter Storm Alfred destroyed 3000trees and damaged countless. More ofthese damaged trees may need to comedown. To protect the survivors, muchKnox Parks has spent the last eighteenmonths walking through a thoroughexamination of who we are, where we’vecome fromand where weare going. Ourmission isstronger,greener, communities;treesand gardensare a means toachieve thatgoal. Theprocess hasbeen led by Causality, a firm specializing innonprofit brand identity.After a year and a half, countless hours ofpruning and trimming still needs to takeplace. To grow a healthy urban canopy,trees that come down must be replaced.Knox has been charged with this responsibilitywhich we are taking very seriously.With funding provided by the Segarraadministration, City Council, and CapitalWorkforce Partners Knox will replace morethan 1,000 of the 3,000 trees in partnershipwith the City of Hartford’sDepartment of Public Works and HeatherDionne, Hartford’s new City Forester. Wehave hired 1 supervisor and 5 crew members,all Hartford residents,to plant and maintainthese trees. So far we haveplanted nearly 300 trees allover Hartford with morefinding new homes eachday. Check out the cornerof Main and Charter Oakwhere the Garden Club ofHartford provided fundingand hard work with nearly50 other volunteers. Thatsame day, thirteen newMaples and three newOaks were planted onColumbus Street in frontof the Hartford Foun -dation for Public Giving.Twenty-one new Mapleswere planted downtownjust last week at the cornerof Ann and Church Stacross from the XL Center.We would love to see each of you at oneof our tree planting or volunteer events.The vision is important but partners tohelp carry out that vision are essential.Thanks to all of our friends, donors, funders,members and volunteers. Wecouldn’t do what we do without your help!Time for Rebrandingdiscussion, debates and interviews, Knoxhas settled on a new logo and a modifiedname. Shortly you’ll see us as Knox, Inc.,with a tag lineof “People,Planting,Programs.”Our new logo,which goeslive soon, isnext to thisarticle.This initiativewas graciouslysponsoredby gifts from the NutmegFoundation, The Hartford Foundation forPublic Giving, and Causality.Foundation & SupportKnox is incredibly grateful for such strongfoundation support in a city with manywonderful charitable organizations!The community garden program is muchstronger this year due to investments byKeep America Beautiful, the Department ofAgriculture and its Agri Viability Grant, TheFund for Greater Hartford, Aetna, the USDAand the Asylum Hill CongregationalChurch. The AmeriCorps Green Crew isthriving under the support of the FisherFoundation, the George and Grace LongFoundation, the Charles Nelson RobinsonFund, the Ensworth Charitable Foundation,TD Charitable Foundation, and Timberland(who provides steel toed shoes for our crew)!Funding trees this summer are: the Courtof Common Council, Capital WorkforcePartners, The Hartford and the City ofHartford. The New Alliance Foundationprovided generous unrestricted funding foroperating expenses. AT&T has generouslydonated used trucks from their fleet to Knoxfor transporting our crew and our tools.We are also fortunate to start the new fiscalyear off with a renewed funding agreementwith the Connecticut Commission onCommunity Service for the AmeriCorpsprogram and the US Forest Service for theplanting of trees in Hartford.