The City’s still losing money on this, my friend
Okay, so this is actually wild. You know how Saskatoon is always talking about being green, right? And we’ve got all these beautiful elm trees along the riverbanks, especially near the U of S campus – a campus, by the way, that should be on postcards. Well, the city tried to deal with all the dead elm wood from Dutch Elm Disease by waiving disposal fees at the landfill. And what happened? We ended up with *twice* as much wood showing up this year compared to last!
It's like, you want to do the right thing, you make it easier, and then the problem just… doubles? Only in Saskatoon will we try to clean up the environment and accidentally create more of what we’re trying to get rid of. It's truly a head-scratcher. It means people were just holding onto this wood, probably in their backyards from Nutana to Silverwood, until it was free to dump. The committee thought they were helping, but it just showed how big the problem actually is.
### What This Means for Saskatoon
* **More Elm Wood:** Expect to see continued efforts (and maybe more surprises) in managing Dutch Elm Disease. It's a never-ending battle for our beautiful trees. * **Budget Headaches:** The city is still trying to figure out how to dispose of all this wood without breaking the bank. Free isn't really free, you know? * **Our Green Image:** It highlights the ongoing challenge of maintaining our city's green spaces and dealing with environmental issues effectively, even when we try our best.
It's a classic Saskatoon paradox: we love our trees, we want to save them, but the practicalities of it all are always a bit… unexpected. We keep trying, though, and that's what counts, abi?
Blessing Adesanya, MiTL Sports Desk, Saskatoon.
Catch more of this kind of talk with the crew every morning, they are too good – tune in live at mornings.live.