STREET TREES. 7 



needed to be done and the policies that should be carried out. 

 Because it takes a long time to get results in growing street trees, the 

 policies should be as nearly continuous as possible and the terms of 

 the members long enough to insure a majority of experienced persons 

 on the board at all times. 



The method of appointing the commissioners is not so important 

 as that each shall be selected from the territory as a whole rather 

 than from a part of it. In some places where the term of service is 

 10 years, each one's successor is appointed by the remaining commis- 

 sioners, subject to confirmation by the couj't. Where this is done a 

 member is not permitted to succeed himself. In other places the 

 commission is appointed by the court; in others, it is elected by the 

 city legislative body or is appointed by the mayor subject to the 

 approval of the legislative body. The important point is to keep the 

 administration as nearly as possible on a purely business basis. 



A good board can accomplish nothing without liberal funds. There 

 are two methods of providing these: (1) By an appropriation from 

 the general tax levy and (2) by direct assessment against the prop- 

 erties, collectible with the other taxes. If the funds are provided by 

 appropriation, a fixed minimum, expressed in millagc of the tax 

 rate, should be provided in the organization of the commission. 

 This minimum should be such that a fair amount of maintenance work 

 can be done when no other funds are available. Councils that 

 appropriate money sometimes hamper boards by withholding appro- 

 priations. Work of the nature of tree planting should not be per- 

 mitted to suffer or be lost by a year's neglect. The fund provided by 

 this minimum amount should not be so large that regular additional 

 appropriations will not be needed to carry on the work properly, as this 

 will give a desirable point of contact of the commission or board with 

 the ordinary channels of expressing public sentiment in the district 

 interested. The minimum appropriation mandatory should be suffi- 

 cient to prevent injury from lack of care of work already begun. A 

 period of minimum care and attention while a board and the people or 

 their representatives are coming to a new understanding of one 

 another's position is not necessarily a detriment, provided a reason- 

 able maintenance has been possible in the interim, but without such 

 care the results are ruinous and work would better not be started 

 than be undertaken with the possibility of such a period of neglect 

 occurring. 



It is probably desirable to assess the cost of tree i^lanting against 

 the adjacent property owners at a proportional cost per front foot 

 and to provide for maintenance out of a general fund. Boulevards 

 and other unusual developments are sometimes maintained with 

 satisfactory results by regular assessments against the abutting 

 properties. 



