Trees

Today was a big day for my internship. Since I joined the East Liberty Development, Inc. staff in early September, another intern, Carlyn, has been planning the biggest tree plating in Western Pennsylvania. This required a ton of planning, a very early morning/long day and about 150 volunteers. The day went very smoothly, and 115 trees were successfully planted on the median of East Liberty Blvd. between Highland Avenue and Negley. While I did not get to plant a single tree, I did get there 3 1/2 hours early to set up. I also got to sign in volunteers and meet a lot of press people. I met a lot of cool people who were affiliated with ELDI and spent a lot of time being in awe of the fact that I got to help plan and pull off such a huge and exciting event!

So why did we feel the need to plant so many trees? ELDI was involved with getting rid of a traffic lane on East Liberty Blvd going each way for bike lanes, and the trees are great for creating a calming effect on traffic. So our hope is that not only will East Liberty Blvd. have great astecic appeal, but bikers will be safer.