BV Director of Community Development Tom Roberts

By Eli

On Monday, June 10th, our Tree Team went to the Buena Vista City Hall to talk with Mr. Tom Roberts and ask him questions. Mr. Roberts is the Director of Community Development in Buena Vista. Part of his work is deciding where some of our buildings go like the Dollar Tree and the small trees around that area. Mr. Roberts is also going to be doing some revitalizing in Buena Vista. For instance, he is creating a team to build a new river access point and boat launch for BV. Mr. Roberts also talked to us about the idea of “right tree, right place.” What he means by that is we need to pick the correct species for the sidewalks, lawns, and other spaces in our city. Not every tree has the correct height, width, or other needs for every location. Mr. Roberts has also been involved in tree mapping for BV and he has been talking to BV residents to know if they would like a tree on their property. We also learned from him about native vs. invasive species, and Mr. Roberts said he would like us to encourage people to plant more native trees. This conversation gave us a lot of new information trees and how the city government makes decisions for BV to make the city better.