{"id":12307,"date":"2015-04-14T11:49:51","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T15:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=12307"},"modified":"2015-04-14T11:49:51","modified_gmt":"2015-04-14T15:49:51","slug":"housing-authority-and-city-of-fort-myers-to-host-arbor-day-celebration-60-new-trees-planted-in-local-public-housing-community-studies-find-trees-reduce-crime-and-increase-community-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2015\/04\/14\/housing-authority-and-city-of-fort-myers-to-host-arbor-day-celebration-60-new-trees-planted-in-local-public-housing-community-studies-find-trees-reduce-crime-and-increase-community-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Housing Authority and City of Fort Myers to host Arbor Day celebration — 60 new trees planted in local public-housing community; studies find trees reduce crime and increase community relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 14, 2015) \u2013 The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers (HACFM)<\/a>, along with the City of Fort Myers, will host an Arbor Day proclamation and celebration on Friday, April 24 at 9 a.m. at the Dr. Carrie Robinson Community Center, located at 2990 Edison Avenue in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

The HACFM and city leaders will gather to dedicate 60 new trees that have been added to the HACFM\u2019s public-housing neighborhoods within the city within the last month in honor of Arbor Day.<\/p>\n

Mayor Randy Henderson will read a proclamation at the event.<\/p>\n

The first Arbor Day took place on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska where an estimated one million trees were planted. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton, a Nebraska journalist and politician originally from Michigan.\u00a0Morton worked to improve agricultural techniques in his adopted state and throughout the U.S. when he served as President Grover Cleveland\u2019s Secretary of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

Today, all 50 states celebrate Arbor Day, although the dates may vary in keeping with the local climate. In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0ACTrees.org<\/a>, more trees equals less crime. In studies done in Chicago, there were dramatically fewer occurrences of crime against both people and property in apartment buildings surrounded by trees and greenery than in nearby identical apartments that were surrounded by barren land. The study also found that when compared to people who live in places without trees, residents who live near trees have significantly better relations with, and stronger ties to their neighbors. They have more visitors, socialize more with their neighbors, know more people in their apartment building, and have a stronger sense of community than people who live in places without trees.<\/p>\n

The event is free and open to the public.<\/p>\n

The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers serves as a catalyst for increasing access to safe, stable and sustainable housing and to help develop, preserve and revitalize communities through affordable rental housing. The agency is dedicated to empowering families with the means to become as self-sufficient as possible through its Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) and HOPE VI Community Supportive Services (CSS) programs, encouraging and facilitating movement toward financial independence beyond the need for HACFM services. The HACFM also aims to instill pride and a desire for an enhanced quality of life for families and serves the greater Fort Myers community in a manner that demonstrates professional courtesy, respect and caring, while recognizing the needs and limitations of the mentally and physically disabled, aged and infirmed.<\/p>\n

For more information, call 239-344-3220 or visit\u00a0www.hacfm.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 14, 2015) \u2013 The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers (HACFM), along with the City of Fort Myers, will host an Arbor Day proclamation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[4335,4336,4337,1185,2433,29,718,4338,4339,678,4340,4341,4342,4343,1190,4344,16,4345,693,4346,716,2018,672,1191,694,19,4347,2061,2968],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}