Everybody loses when trees are lost

To the editor: I don't pretend to be an environmentalist; however I consider myself aware of my environment, and literally in my front yard my environment changed.

I live in a condo in Palatine -- right near the Rand and Dundee intersection. I have always loved the nature area at the entrance of the complex that consisted of approximately 50-70 trees, many that -- based on size -- I would guess were over 50 years old. They were thick, tall and strong, and looked absolutely amazing in the wintertime covered with snow.

So a few weeks back I saw a posting about some changes that were going to be made to the trees and some renovations. Then last week bright and early the bulldozing started, and down came the trees. Now, I understand that 50 trees aren't going to make or break the environment-and there is nothing to be done about it now.

However, the real injustice is that the whole reason that these trees were cut down, these 50 years old trees and home to thousands of animals, is so that a hot dog joint could move down the block! That's right, you can literally see the current "booming" business standing where it chopped down all of the trees.

This is an injustice to the environment, not only of my front yard -- but also to the animals that called this small bit of nature home.

Jen Parkin

Palatine