Black and White – Page 74 – photography from the Chesapeake Bay watershed by Bill Emory

numinous plate

Fort Ebey

bluff — Washington State Parks remain closed until May 4. Closed today.
Fort Ebey State Park is a public recreation area occupying the site of former Fort Ebey on the west side of Whidbey Island, five miles west of Coupeville in Island County, Washington, United States. Fort Ebey was constructed as a coastal defense fort during the Second World War. Good place to watch aircraft from nearby Naval Air Station Whidbey Island

Deception Pass

high bridge — ten years later. Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

fugit inreparabile tempus

human hand cow nose — Gray and I were walking the Atlantic Avenue, River/Old Harbor Road loop. Visited with the Holsteins.

portion of contact sheet — scanned the negative strips on a flatbed. This the last roll of TriX 35mm/36 I shot.

There have been two rolls of TriX hanging in my darkroom, drying, for years. I cut the film yesterday, discovered images from the summer of 2010. A decade. Fade to black.

Ian

end of the road

annotated pavement — End of the road. North side of the “City Walk” site, Charlottesville, 2013.

academical village sans academics

homer and Rotuna — University of Virginia without students.

Apex Energy-SouthernDevelopment-McDonough v Quercus

tree lined street — Garrett Street in Charlottesville, between Ridge Street and Avon, has excellent “green infrastructure”. It is a canopy street. Trees provide shade and shelter, and lower temperatures in the summer.

green city ideology — In 2006 the Charlottesville City Council adopted a 2025 Vision. Item five of the eight point vision was “A Green City”

voting on street elements — The City adopted a plan in 2016 to guide the morphology of its streets. Citizens were involved in the development of the plan. People like canopy trees. Shade is a necessity in a southern city if you intend to walk in the summertime.

Plan 6010 student — The Garrett Street trees have been celebrated over the years.

In the last decade development pressure has focused on this corridor. But still, in the time of COVID-19, a number of the trees remain. (construction workers maintaining distance).

Garret Street stumps — This past week, seven Garrett Street corridor Pin Oaks were dispatched. 10-15,000 square feet of shade gone. Over a million leaves, gone. Carbon sequestration gone.
Apex Energy is building an eight storey energy efficient structure to the south of the stumps . The landscape plan for Apex’s new corporate headquarters shows these noble oaks being replaced by pagoda dogwoods, a flowering plant, a small deciduous shrub that grows to twenty feet, with a trunk up to six inches in diameter. Token trees.

The proposed plantings will not provide the environmental services that these trees brought to our City. This canopy street destruction is deeply discouraging.

screenshot from search for 2025 vision — According to talk on the street, the Apex building is being designed by William McDonough + Partners, two thoughtful companies…
Sometimes green is not green.

smoke and fog

Then.

2013 Dogwood Festival — Seven years ago, Charlottesville's Dogwood Festival Parade. People watch motorcyclists spin their rear tires with front tires locked. Burnout! Particulates. Rubber stench. Fun!

Now

Riverview Park. Solitary man. Morning fog. — Three days ago. Man alone. In the fog. In the morning. Next to the river. Birds sing. Air is sweet. A new day to make things right.