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<br />We'd like to keep the trees too, and I guess I'm speaking in favor <br />of the 29 foot plan. That would preserve as many trees as pos- <br />sible. We already lost our tree to Dutch Elm disease. I talked <br />to a forester today to find out what the prognosis is for the rest <br />of the trees and he says, though the Dutch Elm disease now seems <br />to be in sort of a recession, it's a cyclical kind of thing, and <br />we've had a mild winter and they would expect an increase in the <br />bark beetles and there still is no cure that isn't very expensive <br />and only lasts a short period of time. So, as much as I think <br />we'd hate to lose the trees, I wonder whether in time we're not <br />going to lose them anyway. I think Dutch Elm disease came to <br />this country 50 years ago, when it first was entered in New York <br />in 1930, and it hasn't gone away and they haven't found a cure <br />and the cures they're using now last about two years, according <br />to the forester, after which time you have to repeat it and it <br />affects the tree just to treat the tree. You have to physically <br />abuse the tree in order to treat it. In time, that too could <br />kill the trees. I think the trees are important, but I'm just <br />wondering - are we really going to be able to keep them anyway? <br />I would like to keep as many as we can. I think the street, in <br />its present condition, really detracts from the neighborhood. I <br />realize that's all in the eyes of the beholder, but I drive it <br />and have driven it for years and years and it's a bumpy, irregu- <br />lar, meandering kind of street, with an undefined edge where my <br />grass presumably meets the bituminous. I hardly know where to <br />quit mowing because half of the gravel, or material on the street, <br />is up in the yard. No one has really been able to maintain their <br />yard right along the so-called gutter line. There really is no <br />gutter line. We don't have major ponding problems, but the water <br />doesn't drain well. If I sprinkle my yard I get a puddle right <br />in front of the yard in the street. That doesn't drain. I'm <br />sure that a properly installed curb and gutter with proper drain- <br />age on the curb and gutter would give us much better drainage. <br />Incidentally, I'm a civil engineer, I'm a structural engineer, <br />I'm registered in the State of Minnesota, and I don't work for <br />the City of Roseville. I think one of the points that some of <br />our neighbors are missing is that, in the long run, and as an <br />engineer I think I can say this, I think Mr. Honchell has said <br />it already - it's going to be cheaper for us all. I think the <br />Council is to be commended for undertaking this permanent street <br />improvement program. I realize you get a lot of flak, but I <br />think it's foresighted on the part of the Council to undertake <br />the program now and in the long run you're going to save us all <br />some money. I realize the initial burden is high, but I think <br />it's going to pay for itself. I guess also, since we're only <br />paying a fourth of it now, I suppose there's nothing in the <br />future that would suggest that the City had to stay at a fourth <br />either, that we could be paying more than that in the future. <br />I asked my own real estate man at work what he thought about <br />curbs, gutters and street improvements, does it improve the value, <br />and he said it certainly does because it's a potential assess- <br />ment (inaudible) if it isn't in. For that reason, it does <br />improve it. If I can spend $1.00 and get $4.00 worth of street <br />that's going to enhance the neighborhood and enhance my property, <br />then to me it's worth it. That wouldn't be true of everybody. <br />I think construction costs are going to continue to rise. I <br />think we're lucky right now, we're in sort of a lull. Because <br /> <br />6 <br />