A FRIEND called me today with the sad news that what I once called my favorite street in America is under attack from the island’s own Public Works Department. I don’t know the details, but it’s surprising, because as we wrote in Street Design, Nantucket has a long history of not changing things that work—as their streets do.

Case in point, the beautiful Elm trees on and near Main Street, like the one above.

I gather the problem is handicap access, which is a real problem. But there’s more than one way to do anything, and design is about solving problems with solutions that are both functional and beautiful.

There’s a meeting tomorrow night to discuss the problem. While we wait to hear what that is, here’s a limerick I wrote while visiting Nantucket for Street Design:

There once was a tree on Nantucket,
With none of its roots in a bucket,
“That can’t be,”
Said the state DOT,
But no car has ever yet struck it.

After the jump, another Nantucket Elm Continue reading →