Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 24/99) - A downtown street will soon be littered with falling leaves after the city and a local business planted trees along Franklin Avenue last week.

Mackenzie Management, a property management company, donated $500 to the city's $12,000 tree-planting project. The first of 36 trees was planted in a ceremony with Mayor David Lovell and Mackenzie Management employees.

Yellowknife Public Works manager Greg Kehoe said spruce, cherry, poplar and birch trees were planted between 51st and 47th streets.

Lovell said the trees are part of the city's downtown beautification program.

"This is out of the $200,000 for streetlights, garbage cans, etc.," said Lovell.

Mackenzie Management received the $500 it donated to the planting project when it won the Go for Green Society's Elaine Burke Award. The company won for landscaping seven of its properties in Yellowknife.

The trees are the finishing touches on this summer's paving and sidewalk widening of Franklin Ave, which cost $900,000 according to Kehoe.

The paving project fell behind schedule in July when the city failed to finish the first two blocks in the month.

Some business owners along those blocks, complained about the delay, saying the construction was hurting their business.

Kehoe said the problem was an "overly optimistic" schedule.

"We didn't originally factor in the time needed for the streetlights and wells for the trees," he said.

The city revised the schedule in July from eight weeks to 10 weeks. The road work finished on Sept. 18, right on the new schedule.

The tree-planting crew finished its work Wednesday, Kehoe says.

He says vandalism is a "serious concern," and the city's bylaw enforcement officers will watch the trees closely to protect them from vandals.

Sutherland's Drugs owner Stephen Gwilliam was affected by the delay and said he questions the entire beautification program.

"Right now, (the trees) are nice sticks," he said. "They're not trees, and most of them might not survive (because of vandalism)."

Gwilliam said the wider sidewalks and trees look nice, but may cause him difficulties come winter.

"The twice as wide sidewalk means it will be twice the time for the person clearing them," he said.

Homelife Sunrise Realty owner Shane Clark said he appreciates the paving and tree-planting.

"It's unfortunate to hear the negative comments, when it's due time for an improvement," he says. "Hopefully other merchants will join in and beautify their buildings."