so I've mentioned a the SB Botanic Garden a few times recently and now ol' Lanny Ebenstein has some praise for the new leadership there.. I do not join him in his praise..and Lanny's knowledge of plants is limited to pot and how to grow weed in pot houses!! I 've documented this hoochhound's problem for years, so anything he writes in the News-Press is delusion which I enjoy pointing out!
now...listen to me closely: I love avocados! I don't give a rat's ass if they are are native or not native..and neither should you
Crossing the border
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| spooky cool avocado grove |
Persea americana (avocado) originated in south-central Mexico, with evidence of the fruit existing there and in Peru as early as 500 and 750 BC. In 1871, Judge R.B. Ord of Santa Barbara successfully introduced avocados to the U.S. with trees from Mexico. By the 1950s, about 25 types of the green-skinned fruit were commercially packed and shipped in California, with the fuerte variety accounting for more than two-thirds of production. California currently produces 90 percent of the U.S. avocado crop, and the Hass variety accounts for about 80 percent of avocados eaten worldwide. How has one variety come to dominate the world's avocado palate?
how? because it's friggin monoculture, that's how
so...the Botanic Garden used to be about plants, hence botanic..ie the study of plants-
after the poor conservative leadership got ahold of the facilities, the focus shifted to "native only plants"...ie plants that have a tough time surviving in the real world..
Lanny's News-Press editorial was full of nonsense as usual...he claims that the eastern side of the garden is more like the Channel Islands than the west, the Channel Islands plant section will be moved to the east side! translation: the plants ain't surviving on the west side!! so I guess they are native on the east side of the Botanic Garden but non-native on the west side of the garden..haha what silliness..plant-life from around the world should be celebrated not feared!!!
Botanic Garden's Odd New Director, Steve Windhager
and of course with the last go-round board members like Fife Symington, a con and friend of the News-Press, brought much dishonor to the Botanic Garden... a beautiful place was tarnished by corrupt leadership..the newest CEO, a guy named Steve Windhager is from Texas of all places!! and he has some baggage
Windhager's claim to fame in Texas was coming up with a weedless turf that Walmart wanted to use in front of all its stores! and he wants to change all the rooftops in Santa Barbara to green roofs: The benefits of using a native green roof don’t extend to regional plants and ecosystems alone. Many innovative developers are turning to green roofs to save on energy costs (plants lower roof temperature by absorbing and reflecting the sun’s rays and transpiring), extend roof life, and help with stormwater runoff. Windhager said that, applied across an entire city, green roofs could have major impacts on the urban heat island effect and provide inner city habitat for other native species.
and he supported a giant controversial development over an important aquifer in Texas by Advanced Micro Devices and actually became a consultant for them..
but he had critics: (Of course, the most significant Austin development threatening to pollute the aquifer is none other than AMD's enormous new facility, being built off Southwest Parkway.)
In dry weather, the water clears. Barton Springs is still a marvel of nature but one that's been damaged by man, by our urbanization over a karst limestone aquifer. If AMD moves to Stratus/Freeport's Southwest Parkway land, there will be more urbanization of thousands of acres, and more pollution of Barton Springs
http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2005-12-23/321291/
"None of the greenbuilding tricks will do a thing to address the off-site pollution from secondary growth catalyzed by AMD's development, from AMD's own employees driving back and forth across the aquifer, or from the hundreds of millions of dollars in highway construction projects that will be necessary to support a satellite [downtown region] on Southwest Parkway," said Bill Bunch, executive director of the Save Our Springs Alliance, one of the most vocal opponents of the project.
But another environmentalist, Steve Windhager, director of landscape restoration with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and a consultant on the AMD project, countered that the company will set a new standard for development in the area. "I tend to think we can provide a real model for other development ... my hope is to make this the new standard."
others disagreed:
"If AMD can locate in the Barton Springs watershed, why not other large employers?" he continued. "Twenty five years of community planning will be thrown out the window. No good can come of any project of this scale that begins with so much arrogance, deception, and disrespect for the community."
my biggest problem is these clowns have started the Beer Boutique parties at the garden....the recent one was funded by a local non-profit the Hutton-Parker Foundation...and really is this necessessary to have sanctioned beer parties at the garden...ever drive up Mission Canyon? you need to be sober to negotiate the twists and turns, not high on beer..and at least when Paula Lopez gets drunk, she doesn't drive! way to go, Paula!! (I'll have more on Paula later as I'm starting to find her very sexy and wild!!)
this doesn't bode well for the future of the Botanic Garden and unless the community wakes up to the derelict leaders they keep installing, the real Botanic Garden will be a thing of the past...it's about plants..all plants
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