In the afternoon of Aug. 13, an oil tanker truck going too fast tipped over and exploded while rounding a curve on Centennial Boulevard. The result was that more than 8,000 gallons of fuel that it was carrying burst into a huge two-block-wide cloud of black smoke and fire that scorched and melted everything around it. Even manholes burst into flames as the fuel traveled into the sewer and exploded up through the manhole covers along its route.
This problem of tanker trucks and speeding cars is always a possibility for those who live in The Nations neighborhood, sometimes called Historic West Nashville. As tanker trucks barrel down 51st Avenue at high speeds, they endanger the customers at local businesses, pedestrians and other motorists.
That’s one of the issues that the block party in The Nations neighborhood addressed this past Saturday, August 23, 2014.
Saturday’s Nashville Outlines block party changed 51st Avenue North, the road that bisects The Nations, from a four-lane highway into two lanes of traffic making it more “neighborhood friendly”. By adding bike lanes, crosswalks and parklets (as seen in downtown Nashville last year) the road was totally transformed.
This type of one-day demonstration is the new wave of community driven effort that takes an entire block of a city to affect policy. Tired of waiting for government officials to take action, volunteers spend hours transforming a 4 lane road into a two lane road making it a perfect place to have a block party here in Nashville near Sylvan Park area.
Acer Landscape Services is all for planting more green spaces to make the place where you work and live a more relaxing and inviting space and we were glad to be of help during The Nations block party.
Acer is excited to be a part of The Nations Block Party 2014
There’s a huge advantage to having more “trees and greens” in your environment. Below are some reasons from the Clean Air website.
- Trees are like the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. And of course, they provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.
- Trees also help to reduce ozone levels in urban areas which is very much needed!
- Trees also help reduce urban runoff and erosion by storing water and breaking the force of rain as it falls. In an amazing statement The USDA reported that just 100 mature trees can reduce runoff caused by rainfall by up to 100,000 gallons…now that’s amazing!
- It’s also a well know fact that trees also absorb sound and reduce noise pollution. This is especially important for people who live near freeways which The Nations neighborhood does. In some cases, a well planted group of trees can reduce noise pollution by up to 10 decibels. (Source: New Jersey Forest Service.)
- And lastly, trees help shade asphalt thus reducing what is know as the “Heat Island” effect.
If you need help adding “greens” to your landscape to make it a better space to live and work, please give Dean a call today at 615-350-8030 X 17.
