<p>Not sure if anyone was aware of this. The City of Houston is proposing to widen upper Kirby, which is fairly near the Rice campus, to address flooding concerns. This is a good project to move water from north of the Rice Campus to nearby bayous and prevent potential flooding of The Medical Center. However, their current design plan requires removal of hundreds of mature and nearly mature live oaks, and removal of pedestian amenities. I serve on a landscaping committee in the Houston area and we are banding together in support of a group called Trees for Houston, to convince the City to redesign this part of their drainage project.</p>
<p>I cannot ask you to sign a petition, but I can link a website for anyone interested in finding out about the project consequences.</p>
<p>I hope the trees don't get cut down... I'm applying early decision to Rice (hopefully I'll get in), and it would be a real shame if those trees are no longer there...</p>
<p>Really, there are enough other trees that you won't miss those particular ones... and Rice is replacing any of the ones it tears down for the construction of the new colleges, plus more, so you don't need to worry that the campus will become a desert wasteland or anything. There are trees everywhere.</p>
<p>I want to clarify that the trees that the OP is referring to are not ON the Rice campus or even near the Rice campus. They are trees that line the street along Kirby Drive (north of the Southwest Freeway), which must be at least a mile away from campus.</p>