Pattaya bureaucrats went to school to learn about trees before uprooting them from Pattaya Beach.
Mayor Sonthaya Kunplome opened the Oct. 2 training course for city environment, engineering and security officers, with lessons taught by representatives of the Big Tree Group, Thai Association of Landscape Architects and Thai Arboriculture Association.
The educational crash course became necessary after Pattaya began ripping out beachfront trees as part of its latest shoreline facelift. The uproar from the public halted the project, and Sonthaya was forced to bring in urban tree experts to teach city workers how to properly survey and evaluate beachfront trees.
The survey results will be used to retool the 160-million-baht landscaping plan, and a seal of approval from the tree huggers should placate the anonymous keyboard warriors who pillorized the city online.
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