Board President's Message

Dan Murphy

When reason and emotion collide, emotion invariably wins
A friend recently lent me the book "The Political Brain" by Drew Westen. He says the notion that politics is a marketplace of ideas, with decisions based on data and reasoned arguments, couldn't be further from the truth. "In politics, when reason and emotion collide, emotion invariably wins," says Westen.

Persuading, it turns out, is not about logic, reasoning or the best interests of the group. It is about connecting to visceral emotional associations. The most disheartening revelation in the book is the ease with which partisans overcome the cognitive constraint of facts. When political loyalty is in play, asserts Westen, "the weight of the evidence has a small effect."

Even at the level of neighborhood controversy emotions can run high. But, regardless of Westen's findings, I expect people to listen to reasoning and facts before reaching their conclusions.

A perennial emotional neighborhood battleground is the removal of trees under the provisions of the city's Heritage Tree Ordinance. In a pending tree controversy, one of our homeowners applied for a permit to remove a healthy heritage London plane tree to add a bedroom onto the rear of their house. SCNA, through our Neighborhood Concerns Committee, has weighed in against granting the permit request.

The homeowners have powerful emotional associations on their side. It is commonly felt that a person's home is their castle and there is an implicit right to do as we want in our own backyards. The neighbors who oppose removal can call on their love for trees: "I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree."

The city will have to decide whether preserving shade and views of the heritage-sized trees that give our neighborhood a good measure of its charm and character should overcome the interest of the homeowners in adding on to their house.

SCNA's position opposing removal is based on the wording of the Heritage Tree Ordinance. It permits removal only if the use permitted by zoning "cannot be made of the property unless the tree is removed." Since the property is already being used as a residence, SCNA thinks the tree does not qualify for removal. However, with "The Political Brain" in mind, I have to think that the power of the pertinent emotional associations-the imagery of healthy mature trees or of proud home improvers-may turn out to be more important than any objective reading of the ordinance.

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