Correcting Kahlo

After reading Chris O’Malley’s [Aug. 13] article “More trees to get the ax along Central Canal,” I wondered what compelled him to include such a liberal amount of speculations of local antagonist Clarke Kahlo when so many credible sources are available for comment.

It is simply untrue that the vegetation cut along the riverbank in Broad Ripple has been done “to the detriment of the river and the ecology.” This work has been conducted over the last four years by volunteers who have removed only invasive wild honeysuckle and replaced it with native plantings and mulch. Further, as Kahlo is aware, this riverbank improvement effort has received the blessing of the Department of Natural Resources.

Second, the Art 2 Art project is being cultivated and reviewed by some of the foremost custodians of our city. It is simply preposterous for Kahlo to suggest that this project will result in “the likely cutting of trees” along the river.

In the same article, isn’t it about time we admitted that the “notorious 2009 removal of mature trees along the Monon Trail to make way for a Kroger” wasn’t notorious at all? The reality is that a 100-yard ditch filled with trash, weeds, scrub trees and invasive honeysuckle was turned into a lovely landscape filled with beautiful flowers and specimen trees which has been beautifully maintained.

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Don Arbogast