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Austin man makes tree obituary into movie

10:18 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 2, 2008

By AMY JOHNSTON
KVUE News

A new film titled “At What Cost" is an obituary for an 89-year-old tree the filmmaker calls Baum Verde, or BV.

Video
KVUE's Amy Johnston reports
07/01/2008

It begins with, “BV's life was cut short at the hands of an arborist's chain saw to make room for the Barton Place Condominiums."

The film's creator, Tom Suhler, lives next door to what will be Barton Place Condominiums.

“Slowly I got more and more depressed about it. Towards the end, I just wanted to cut down everything in one day -- so I could get through with it -- it had that kind of impact on me,” said Shuler.

So he decided to share that -- through the obituary.

But on the other side of the fence are the property owners. Developer Rick Engle also owns Austin Java restaurant, which is located on the property next to Barton Springs Road.

He says he’s "proud to say we received unanimous support from the Zilker Neighborhood Association, the Planning Commission and the City Council." He goes on to say that they even got the support of Save Town Lake, which was the first development they ever supported.

“It's important for them to involve the community with these big decisions,” said Jordan English.

But even then, it's hard to please everyone.

“I think it's a thin line to be treaded as far as the conservation of the green, of the environment,” said Adam Roberts, Austin resident.

“I hope the final message is that nothing is inevitable. These are things that happened because people made decisions. The land owner made the decision to get as much money as she could, so that restrained what kind of property could be there,” said Suhler.

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