Trees are needed more than Lake Stevens Costco

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Thank you for the article on the preparation of the Costco site off 20th NE in Lake Stevens (“Lake Stevens neighbors mourn 1,000s of trees at Costco site,” The Herald, Aug. 12).

Shame on the Lake Stevens City Council! We have just seen the report on Climate Change from The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and various other studies. We have had blistering temperatures in the Pacific Northwest and yet Lake Stevens City Council had to have more income for the city in taxes from a big box store who mows down all the trees and underbrush and reduces wet lands to meet its profit goal and pave in a parking lot.

We all need to think of the future and block reduction in trees and habitat that help cool and clean the air. The citizens of Lake Stevens tried, very hard, to prevent this but the city council had their eye on the immediate future of income. Shame on you, city council. You all should be voted out of office. By the way, those trees that Costco promised will not be old enough to mean anything for cooling and cleaning air until 20 years from now.

Mary Lou Hatcher

Marysville