Valentine's Day is for remembering someone special, sending bouquets and cards and pledging love. The Ecology Club at the Newark Center for Creative Learning found a way to remember something special and send their own ecological Valentine to the community. The students planted holiday decorations in each of the 12 flower bins bordering Main Street (Newark). "It's a great way to connect the kids to their outer world and communities," said club adviser Jeffrey Piacitelli. The first week in February found students like 9-year-old Rae draping bare branches with ribbons, lace and wooden hearts. Then there were several trips to Main Street during brutal winter weather to clean out the tubs and plant the arrangements - about 20 hours' worth of creative effort overall. But the bouquets were not complete without some sort of card.Plaques at each bin not only note who was responsible for the decorating but also note that the markers themselves were made from a sycamore tree cut down last fall in front of the Charcoal Pit restaurant construction site. The students said they complained to the city last year about the plan to cut down the tree. They said they were told it would not be cut down. Instead, a trench was dug around the tree, but it was dug too close and the tree started to die. Developer Louis Capano & Associates was ordered last month to pay Newark, $5,500 for failing to protect the tree.The plaques say that the tree was 150 years old; a witness at the Capano trial testified that the tree, actually a sycamore hybrid know as a London plane, was about 65 years old. "We just wanted to do something nice," said 10-year-old Nick about the remembrance and decorating. The ecology group took over the maintenance of the bins from the Newark Arts Alliance last fall. In December, the students planted holiday decorations in them. Within days, however, the bins had been vandalized. "It's sort of sad to see people throwing trash everywhere," student Christine said."It may look like kids' work to them," said club adviser Janice Toomey, "but they don't realize all the effort that they put into it." But someone is taking notice. Diana Smith, Main Street's hot dog vendor, has a front-row seat with two bins planted directly across from her stand. "It's great that the kids are getting involved in Main Street and Newark," Smith said. "It looks better." The club plans to fill the bins with decorations for every holiday and plant some perennials in the spring, Toomey said. "It makes me feel like I've done something special for the community," said 10-year-old Catherine.
