Matt Elliott Profile picture
City columnist, contributing to @TorontoStar & writing @cityhallwatcher. A lot about Toronto Politics and then some nerd stuff. @humbercollege prof. (he/him)

Jul 10, 2020, 13 tweets

Five years ago today, Toronto kicked off the 2015 Pan Am Games.

To mark the event, 41 trees were planted along a section of Front Street East — one for each participating country or territory.

In this thread, an update on the state of every tree.

🌳 Yes, it’s a tree thread.

Antigua & Barbuda: good tree
Argentina: dead
Aruba: Split, but looks okay otherwise
Bahamas: Pretty good.

Barbados: not looking great, but alive
Belize: barely hanging on
Bermuda: in pretty rough shape too
Bolivia: pretty good

Brazil: unknown
British Virgin Islands: unknown
Canada: unknown
Cayman Islands: unknown
Chile: unknown
Colombia: unknown

Plaques for these trees seem to have been removed during construction of this condo. Will they come back? I hope so! (On plus side, condo has a climbing gym.)

Costa Rica: good.
Cuba: little thin, but all right
Dominica: very tall trunk, but living
Dominican Republic: doing well

Ecuador: good tree
El Salvador: one of the best
Grenada: a stump
Guatemala: also a stump

Guyana: another stump
Haiti: really impressive
Honduras: leaning, but good
Jamaica: really good

Mexico: in a box near construction hoarding, but okay
Nicaragua - also boxed, but still alive
Panama - more box, more okay
Paraguay: no idea what’s happening here

Peru: boxed and tri-branched, but alive
Puerto Rico: another boxed tree, but solid
Saint Kitts & Nevis: not in a box! Doing well
Saint Lucia: Saintly

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines: someone stole the plaque, replaced with scratched “JESUS.” Tree’s okay.
Suriname: good tree
Trinidad & Tobago: probably my fav; one of the absolute best
United States: fine, but pales compared to Trinidad & Tobago

Uruguay: ur a stump
Venezuela: thin but okay
Virgin Islands: not bad

In conclusion, I count 27 of 41 trees that I’d classify as in decent or better condition. That’s 66%.

7 are dead or dying. 1 has a missing plaque. 6 are unknown status because plaques were removed for condo construction.

🌳 This concludes the tree thread.

🌳 Tree follow-up.

The city’s Urban Forestry division provided me this info re: these Pan Am trees. They’re responsible for most of ‘em.

They are working on a design that would give the tree trunks more room to grow. Dead or dying trees will be replaced.

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