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Save the 8000SaveKzooTrees.org

What we’re doing, and what it costs

The sequence

WhenWhatWhat we need from you
Tue, Sept 8Road Commission board meeting, 3 p.m.Be in the room
The week afterWe publish what happened, including if it went badlyRead it, tell one neighbor
Through SeptemberRight-of-way letters go out address by address; records requests continueSend yours; send us what comes back
OngoingCounty Board pressure — they appoint every road commissionerWrite, and copy them on everything
Oct 1Cutting is reported to beginThis is the date everything above is measured against

That is the plan. If you can only do one thing on it, do the first one.

Write to them

Ten minutes. One short, specific, polite message beats a long angry one, and fifty identical form letters get counted once. Change at least one sentence so it sounds like you.

Step 1 — Email the Road Commission board

These five people vote on this. Their addresses are published by the Road Commission itself.

General office: info@kalamazoocountyroads.com · (269) 381-3171 · 4400 S 26th Street, Kalamazoo, MI 49048

Copy hello@savekzootrees.org on whatever you send. We don’t publish your name — we just want to know it went out, and we’ll tell you if they answer.

Open in my email app

Some phone mail apps choke on long recipient lists. If the email app opens empty, use the copy button and paste the addresses in yourself.

Step 2 — Send the same message to your county commissioner

Here is the part most people skip, and it is the part that works.

The five road commissioners above are not elected. They are appointed by the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners — and those nine people are elected, by you. At a county board meeting this summer, Commissioner Monteze Morales put it plainly on the record: the Board of Commissioners does not control what the Road Commission does, and the only influence it has comes from whether it reappoints Road Commission board members.

That is not nothing. That is the whole lever.

When residents wrote to the Road Commission alone, most got no reply. When residents copied the County Board, three commissioners called back within days, and one of them personally set up a sit-down with Road Commission officials.

The county does not publish its commissioners’ email addresses. Each one has a contact form and a direct phone number instead — so this takes two extra minutes rather than a cc.

  1. Find out which district you’re in. The county has a lookup: kalcounty.gov/findmycommissioner. If it gives you trouble, call the board office at (269) 384-8111 and ask which district your address is in. Takes about a minute.
  2. Paste your message into the contact form — Contact the Board of Commissioners. Put your district number in the first line so it reaches the right person.
  3. Or just call. The numbers below are direct. A ninety-second call from a constituent gets logged and remembered in a way an email does not.

Board office: (269) 384-8111 · 201 W. Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, MI 49007

What to say

Start from this and change a sentence or two so it sounds like you:

Subject: Tree removal on [YOUR ROAD] — SS4A clear zone My name is ______ and I live on ______ in ______ Township, in County Commission District ___. There are ___ trees marked with an X in front of my house. I am asking the Road Commission to do four things: 1. Publish the list of trees that came off the removal list when the clear-zone policy changed this summer, so residents can check it against what is actually marked. 2. Put this project's money into rumble strips first. Your own presentation credits centerline rumble strips with a 55% crash reduction, and they are going in on all 130 miles regardless. 3. Hold at least one evening meeting on this project. A 3 p.m. meeting on a workday excludes most of the people who live on these roads. 4. Put a written notice and appeal process in place before another tree comes down. Your own vegetation policy promises reasonable notice for a tree in the roadway and says nothing about the tree in my front yard. A homeowner should be told before their trees are marked, and should have somewhere to go if the measurement is wrong. [One or two sentences in your own words about your trees.] Thank you for your time. ______, ______ Township

Before you send it

Anything you send to a public body in Michigan is generally a public record under the Freedom of Information Act, and can be released to anyone who asks for it — including people who disagree with you. That is not a reason to stay quiet. It is a reason to write something you would be content to see printed.

If you would rather not have your name in a public file at all, sign the petition or tell us privately instead. Both of those stay with us.

Public records

We have a Freedom of Information Act request in for the documents behind this project: how the right-of-way width was determined road by road, the crash data by segment, and the record behind the scope change. What comes back gets posted here, whether it helps us or not.

The County Board

The five Road Commission commissioners are not elected. They are appointed by the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners, who are elected — by you.

That is the shortest line between a resident and this decision, and it is why emails that copy the County Board get answered when emails to the Road Commission alone do not.

Going to court, if it comes to that

Michigan has an unusual law. Under the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, any person can bring an action to protect natural resources — you don’t have to prove a special personal injury the way you usually would. The bond a court can require is capped at $500. And once residents make an initial showing that a natural resource is being destroyed, the burden shifts to the Road Commission to prove there is no feasible and prudent alternative to what it’s doing.

That last part is the whole fight in one sentence. Their own presentation lists the alternatives.

We are not going to tell you this is a sure thing. No outcome is guaranteed, this kind of case turns on expert testimony, and we do not yet have counsel retained. What we can tell you is what the money would buy: a lawyer, an ecologist, and a consulting arborist. Without those three, there is no case.

Pledge to the legal fund

We are not collecting money today. We’re asking how much you would give if and when counsel is retained. When that happens, we come back to you first.

How much would you give if and when counsel is retained?
Optional: your road, township, and phone

Your pledge is not a commitment you can be held to, and your name is not published. No pressure, and it’s completely fine to say no.

Would rather give time than money? I'll be there September 8.

 

The primary ask remains: I'll be there September 8.