While Mayor Nickels and the City Council continue their Faustian bargain with local developers to continue erecting their unending string of cookie cutter condos under the Orwellian guise of "urban villages." an even more noxious threat to our city's greenbelts exist in the form of invasive species.

Along the greenbelt where I live on Fauntleroy Way amidst the native fir, alder, and maple - English ivy is creeping up the trees and literally choking them to death. This is one example of what is happening throughout the city. When I called the city to see what they were going to do about it along Fauntleroy Creek, they said it was Metro's responsibility. When I called Metro, they said it was the city's responsibility. In other words, I got the usual bureaucratic runaround.

Many concerned volunteers are working in Lincoln Park and elsewhere in a valiant effort to rid us of these malignant plants. However, it is going to take more than volunteerism. It's going to take a concerted effort on the part of the city bureaucracy, otherwise what few greenbelts we have left in this city are going to die.

Mayor Nickels likes to present himself as an environmentalist. It's past time he live up to that label.

Chris Anderson

Fauntleroy