Citizen complaint of the day: The 2020est Christmas tree in Brighton

For the past four or five years the large, public Christmas Tree erected in front of the social center in Central Square in East Boston has leaned at a distinct and noticeable angle. You'd think after the first year something would have been done about it, but they keep letting it be that way year after year.

Wind

By Anon
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:32am

I’m sure it couldn’t be the wind

Not the wind

By anon
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:03am

It leans that way permanently from the start. It's a structural problem of some sort.

Aww... where's the love?

By Keiko
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:06am

There was time when a tree like that would be rescued by round-headed neighborhood boy. Another would lovingly drape his blanket around the base of it and all the other kids would decorate it.

All that love would turn the sad tree into a happy, beautiful Christmas tree.

Boston 311 Response

By Pete X
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 9:38am

"Mwa wah wah, mwa mwa wah mwa mwa. Mwa mwa wah"

- Closed

Leading to the next Boston 311 report:

By fungwah
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:00am

"A bunch of kids were outside noisily singing in a "ooooh ooh ooh" fashion - and I'm pretty sure one of them looked dangerous, if you know what I mean. Where's the police to get rid of these loud troublemakers when you need them?"

..and the dog wasn't on a leash!

By Keiko
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:07am

Plus a doghouse

By roadman
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:53am

with Christmas decorations that's causing excessive light pollution.

Chillax

By Ghost of trees past
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 9:32am

Ppl need to chill. Obviously the tree stinks but does it really matter? Are people for fragile that a crappy tree knocks them out of whack. You can see all the needles on the ground, so it’s apparent the extra crappiness of it came while it was sitting there. I say embrace it and move on with your day.

joke?

By anon
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:45am

pretty sure it was a joke... the caption is "please relocate to Allston". As a former resident of both Brighton and Allston it gave me a good chuckle.

Not quite as funny was ...

By adamg
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:50am

The complaint (from the same person, maybe, but it had a different photo) filed under "needle cleanup" with a photo of some of the dropped needles - the city took it seriously and dispatched one of the crews that picks up discarded hypodermic needles, who, of course, found "no needles" at the scene.

This tree is a mood, and I am

By RoseMai
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 9:33am

This tree is a mood, and I am feeling it. 2020-scraggle-trees for all!

Pathetic

By John
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 9:36am

No amount of love can bring it back from the dead. Dead is dead.

Dead

By TreeRollins
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:31am

All trees are dead once you cut them from the roots.

In Theory

By Jethro
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 12:07pm

If you take care of a tree well enough, it doesn't figure out that it's dead until it's about to get mulched (or eaten by an elephant)

Great opportunity

By Parkwayne
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:04am

We've all really lost touch with the meaning of the mid-winter holiday.

Back in the good old days, people would bring trees into their homes and also have giant fires to ward off the long December nights in northern Europe. I say we skip all this johnny-come-lately Christmas nonsense and get back to bonfires as the real celebration of the solstice. Starting with this tree.

Make American Pagan Again.

Put the Saturn back in

By Scratchie
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:11am

Put the Saturn back in Saturnalia.

One clarification

By Parkwayne
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:31am

I am not, at this time, calling for a return to 'Wicker Man' style human sacrifice.

Then how

By erik g
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:01am

are you planning to get the attention of the Old Gods, smart guy?

Next Door post

By Parkwayne
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 11:20am

I bet the Old Gods are on Next Door all day long, like most retired folks with too much time on their hands.

Old Gods and New Gods and trees

By SamWack
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 12:44pm

The new gods are pretty much like the old ones, anyway. Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of the victim of the ultimate human sacrifice. Even the twist that the victim is also God isn’t necessarily original. Odin sacrificed himself to himself, by hanging himself on a tree.

I don't know about that

By Parkwayne
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 12:54pm

The old gods sure did impregnate a lot of women under, to be charitable, very dubious circumstances. The Judeo-Christian God only had the one kid out of wedlock, that we know about at least.

Christian, not Judeo-Christian

By JonT
Wed, 11/18/2020 - 10:51pm

That's one of the best examples I've ever seen of where the phrase Judeo-Christian really doesn't work.

That is an excellent point!

By Parkwayne
Thu, 11/19/2020 - 2:42pm

Although it does raise the theological question as to whether that is a different God or not?

I thought the Jewish belief was that Jesus was perhaps a prophet, but not the promised Messiah. Christians obviously believe Jesus was the son of God. So, could be the same God in either scenario as it's a question of Jesus' identity not God's identity. A real Billy Jean situation if you will.

Question - is the Jewish Messiah to be the son of God or just a descendant of David?

theology

By JonT
Thu, 11/19/2020 - 6:42pm

IANAR, but the Jewish concept of the Messiah (literally, "anointed one") is a human being descended from David. Judaism rejects the idea of any physical form or incarnation of God, and considers God to be unique and indivisible, so the Trinity is right out. The line that I was responding to, "...God only had the one kid out of wedlock..." can only refer to the Christian concept of God, not the Jewish one (or for that matter, the Muslim one, which, to the best of my understanding, is much closer to the Jewish concept than the Christian concept is).

Please relocate tree to Allston.

Please relocate tree to Louisburg Square

Update

By Allstonian
Sat, 11/28/2020 - 1:36pm

Update:
https://www.facebook.com/175059336554/posts/10157361008166555/

Citizen complaint of the day: The 2020est Christmas tree in Brighton

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