What happened to the trees?

A letter to the editor

Bellevue Reporter, March 19

According to a recent article in the Bellevue Reporter, PSE will pay the City of Bellevue almost a million dollars to compensate for the loss of 295 trees along 148th Ave SE and NE 8th Street. Tall power poles will intrude on these beautiful tree-lined streets. If the project is really necessary to keep our lights on, it should be installed underground. What will Bellevue look like if we lose 300 trees here, 8000 trees there (for Energize Eastside), and blindly continue down that path?

Is this why Bellevue is giving up its “City in a Park” tag line? Perhaps it should be: “Bellevue, a Playground for PSE.”

Don Marsh

CENSE response

CENSE is a coalition of neighborhoods, and the Lake Hills-Phantom Lake transmission proposal mentioned in this letter is another assault on neighborhoods by a private corporation that values profits more than the concerns of residents. Although it’s a much smaller project than Energize Eastside, many of the same issues apply.

CENSE hopes to partner with residents of the affected neighborhoods to raise some serious questions. In the next couple of weeks, we will ask for volunteers to help us inform and educate the public. The critical date is April 20, when the Bellevue City Council will vote on the final construction permit. As our plans progress, we will post updates. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, now would be a perfect time to do so: cense.org/sign-up-for-newsletter

Stay tuned!