Bama' Palm Tree fail - any way to fix?

[DoomsDave]

An Alabama mayor planted palm trees. Now a critic won’t stop mocking the failed plan

Anyone know what kind of palms the deceased were?

This is a bit of a local political brawl, but I wonder if it would be possible to plant mule palms there?

I suspect hardy Sabals would also grow there over the long term.

Whaddya think?

 

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Wind-swept palm trees lining boulevards in Miami, Los Angeles and Southern California are natural welcome signs to their beaches.

A plan further north to create a South Beach of central Alabama - minus the beach - didn’t go as planned in the town of Tarrant.

Mayor Wayman Newton, early in his tenure, planted about two dozen palms hoping to beautify the largely industrial town just north of Birmingham.

But a hard freeze several years ago killed most of the trees, blowing away $5,000 in city funding.

The saga of the frozen palm trees was recounted during the latest Tarrant City Council meeting Monday night when Novillee Williams, an activist and mayoral critic, called the blunder an example of poor planning and needless spending.

“Why did you do that?” Williams asked Newton. “In the wintertime, you knew that those palm trees weren’t going to last.”

Newton said the palm trees were his novel attempt to add some flair to the city streetscape.

“Believe it or not we actually have palm trees that are growing in the city of Tarrant. That gave me the idea,” he said. “And I was looking for a way to have a signature look.”

Unfortunately, the winter was a historically cold one where it even froze in sunny Florida, the land of palm trees.

“I don’t apologize for doing it because I was trying to do something different and I was trying to beautify the city,” Newton said.

Williams then repeated her request for details on city finances past and present.

Williams, a frequent critic of Newton, has repeatedly come to city hall with her request for financial disclosure. She always leaves without an answer.

Councilwoman Tracie Threadford told AL.com that the council doesn’t have the answers to her questions.

“While I do understand Ms. Williams’ concern about the finances, the city council does not have access to the information concerning 2020 before Mayor Newton took office,” Threadford told AL.com Tuesday.

“This is nothing new. We don’t get any information on anything, and we are doing our best to serve the citizens with the little information that we do have,” Threadford said.

Years of personal and political animosity has created a schism among the mayor and council and a bitter divide among residents who side with one branch or the other.

Williams was even arrested following a heated city council exchange months ago, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Threadford, who is also challenging Newton in the race for mayor suggested that Williams make an official public information request through the city clerk to get the records she seeks.

Williams wants figures going back to 2020 before the current administration took office along with the present finances.

“I ask that you would put it on the Tarrant page to say how much is in the general fund,” said Williams, who has also called for a forensic audit of city finances.

Newton said the city council has access to the information. But councilwoman Cathy Anderson shot back.

“The city hall has access to this stuff too,” she said. “All I do is sign checks. I don’t look at statements. I don’t get copies of statements. They all come here.”

Wiliams again left empty-handed, but undeterred. City elections for mayor and council are Aug. 26.

“If you don’t want to give it that’s fine,” she said. “We’re going to find out sooner or later.”

 

[JohnAndSancho]

Wild. Google was no help. Of all things, the search results led me to apply for jobs at Taco Bell. 

[amh]

The palms appear to be trachycarpus, or possibly rhapidophyllum mixed with sago "palms" planted along E Lake blvd in front of their city hall building and around the parking lot. Both species should be cold hardy to the area.

[kinzyjr]

Piecing together information from the article Google Maps from the information added by @amh, it looks like the palms did OK during January 2022, but took a beating in December 2022 - with damage showing in the January 2023 screenshot.

January 2023: Just about everything is damaged.

March 2022: Everything looks very green a few months after the long chill of January 2022.

 

[jwitt]

2 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

An Alabama mayor planted palm trees. Now a critic won’t stop mocking the failed plan

Anyone know what kind of palms the deceased were?

This is a bit of a local political brawl, but I wonder if it would be possible to plant mule palms there?

I suspect hardy Sabals would also grow there over the long term.

Whaddya think?

 

==========================================================================================================================

Wind-swept palm trees lining boulevards in Miami, Los Angeles and Southern California are natural welcome signs to their beaches.

A plan further north to create a South Beach of central Alabama - minus the beach - didn’t go as planned in the town of Tarrant.

Mayor Wayman Newton, early in his tenure, planted about two dozen palms hoping to beautify the largely industrial town just north of Birmingham.

But a hard freeze several years ago killed most of the trees, blowing away $5,000 in city funding.

The saga of the frozen palm trees was recounted during the latest Tarrant City Council meeting Monday night when Novillee Williams, an activist and mayoral critic, called the blunder an example of poor planning and needless spending.

“Why did you do that?” Williams asked Newton. “In the wintertime, you knew that those palm trees weren’t going to last.”

Newton said the palm trees were his novel attempt to add some flair to the city streetscape.

“Believe it or not we actually have palm trees that are growing in the city of Tarrant. That gave me the idea,” he said. “And I was looking for a way to have a signature look.”

Unfortunately, the winter was a historically cold one where it even froze in sunny Florida, the land of palm trees.

“I don’t apologize for doing it because I was trying to do something different and I was trying to beautify the city,” Newton said.

Williams then repeated her request for details on city finances past and present.

Williams, a frequent critic of Newton, has repeatedly come to city hall with her request for financial disclosure. She always leaves without an answer.

Councilwoman Tracie Threadford told AL.com that the council doesn’t have the answers to her questions.

“While I do understand Ms. Williams’ concern about the finances, the city council does not have access to the information concerning 2020 before Mayor Newton took office,” Threadford told AL.com Tuesday.

“This is nothing new. We don’t get any information on anything, and we are doing our best to serve the citizens with the little information that we do have,” Threadford said.

Years of personal and political animosity has created a schism among the mayor and council and a bitter divide among residents who side with one branch or the other.

Williams was even arrested following a heated city council exchange months ago, but was later cleared of any wrongdoing.

Threadford, who is also challenging Newton in the race for mayor suggested that Williams make an official public information request through the city clerk to get the records she seeks.

Williams wants figures going back to 2020 before the current administration took office along with the present finances.

“I ask that you would put it on the Tarrant page to say how much is in the general fund,” said Williams, who has also called for a forensic audit of city finances.

Newton said the city council has access to the information. But councilwoman Cathy Anderson shot back.

“The city hall has access to this stuff too,” she said. “All I do is sign checks. I don’t look at statements. I don’t get copies of statements. They all come here.”

Wiliams again left empty-handed, but undeterred. City elections for mayor and council are Aug. 26.

“If you don’t want to give it that’s fine,” she said. “We’re going to find out sooner or later.”

 

A bit cold for mule palm. Birmingham average annual low is 14f, making it a warm zone 8a.  Tarrant most likely close or slightly colder. That said, trachies, many sabals, and some others would be perfectly hardy.  That said, they  have had 3 or four upper single digit lows(7-9f) in the last decade. 

So those established palms the mayor saw in his city probably sailed through that cold. But newly planted, unestablished palms(<3 years), succumbed. 

Then add tax dollars, and maybe these were Florida sourced palms planted in December!

[kinzyjr]

15 minutes ago, jwitt said:

A bit cold for mule palm. Birmingham average annual low is 14f, making it a warm zone 8a.  Tarrant most likely close or slightly colder. That said, trachies, many sabals, and some others would be perfectly hardy.  That said, they  have had 3 or four upper single digit lows(7-9f) in the last decade. 

So those established palms the mayor saw in his city probably sailed through that cold. But newly planted, unestablished palms(<3 years), succumbed. 

Then add tax dollars, and maybe these were Florida sourced palms planted in December!

I agree.  Best thing he could have done was gotten Sabal minor 'Cherokee' and Sabal 'Birmingham' and argued back that they were natives.  Applaud the efforts, but poor execution and timing.

[DoomsDave]

KEEP THE COMMENTS COMING!

I kinda picture a Palm Advisor for Mr. Mayor . . . . 

[SeanK]

The problem is that the palms weren't established. They were planted early 2022. December 2022 we went from 55°F to 5°F in 36 hours. Classic winter pattern, warm rain out of the Gulf followed by a cold NW front, drying everything out. Those palms would need 3 years in the ground to handle that.

I drove by the yard with the half-dozen, 6+ foot trachies last week. One is still a stump. That's why T.fortunei is rated z8a (10°F). They're hardy to that temp, but below, genetics plays a part in individual survival.