Being “Mayor for a Day” will be so much fun, and I think I have great ideas for our city. Troy is a wonderful place to live. We have a great university, awesome parks and ball fields, and a beautiful downtown square. I think the Troy City Council and the Mayor of Troy should think about my idea to plant more trees all around this awesome city. Planting trees is good for the environment, as trees can help clean the air and provide oxygen. Trees can help cool the streets and save energy. Also, the tree-lined streets make the neighborhoods and businesses look really nice. I believe that planting more trees will make Troy one of the most beautiful cities in Alabama.

Troy is lacking a beautiful and memorable entrance into our city. We could use a path of trees to make the entrances of Troy look pretty. Troy would benefit from having more neighborhoods and businesses districts with tree-lined streets. We currently do not have a lot of large, mature trees. Older, larger, and more mature trees provide more shade, produce more oxygen, and they are more attractive and noticeable. Some of Troy’s older trees have reached the end of their life and others have just been removed. Most of the trees, which have been removed, have been replaced by smaller types of trees or have not been replaced at all. Trees can be an attractive center of attention. Planting new trees that can mature into large trees is a great way to make coming to troy beautiful.

If we just look around, we can find funding for new trees, places to put new trees and people to cake care of the trees. A couple of places to plant trees are off of the towns square, in Troy’s neighborhoods, and on US HWY 231. A great place to make a nice welcoming entrance into Troy with trees would be off of US HWY 231 on Trojan Way. A lot of people use this road to go to and from Montgomery. Smaller Trees are inexpensive and very easy to take care of. Young people in Troy could volunteer to take care of the trees for the community service hours. Money is available for trees through the US Arbor Foundation, and through Tree City Grants. Another idea is to ask for the donations from local businesses or individuals, and groups willing to sponsor a tree.

Another benefit to planting more trees is that trees are good for businesses. I read an article that said that tree-lined streets slowed traffic enough for people to look at store fronts instead of just driving by. Also, people enjoy walking on shady streets. Troy’s downtown is a great example of this. There are nice shade trees and other trees planted around the square. Businesses have been able to do well, and there are a lot of people who go there to shop. Increasing the number of customers for our businesses is good for our city. If planting more trees can help local businesses make more money, then I think it’s a good idea for us to plant more trees in Troy.

It is a good idea to plant new trees all over Troy. There are lots of great places to plant the trees for people of Troy to enjoy. There are great benefits to our city for planting more trees. There is money available for purchasing new trees and working together to plant new trees and care for the trees would really make a fun project. I think that if I am selected as “mayor for a Day” we could accomplish this idea.

Scott Taylor Renfroe is a middle-school 8th grader at Charles Henderson Middle School was selected as a winner for ‘The Mayor for a Day’ contest. This is his winning essay.