Tree Cutting - Another Perspective

When my family moved into this house in the late 1950s, I was taller than the tree (foreground on the right of the picture with the white tape.) Now the trees make a canopy over the street and wreak havoc with the sidewalks and the driveways. The roots cause the sidewalks to lurch up in strange ways.





My parents have paid for the driveway and sidewalks to be repaired a number of times.. When the city asked my mom recently if she would give permission to have it removed, she said yes. She doesn't walk on the sidewalk any more because she's afraid of falling. Here you can see the newest bulge - it hasn't been that long since my mom had to pay for the old sidewalk to be repaired. It had sharper upthrusts and big cracks.


I have mixed feelings about this. The street has been transformed from a barren new subdivision into a tree covered oasis. But my mom's tree does seem to lean way over into the street. I suspect it makes sense to take out a few trees at a time and plant new ones that won't have quite the root problems. Let them grow, and slowly replace them all gradually. That would keep the flavor of the street, and allow for a gradual change over time. We'll see. This is the only street in the subdivision that I know of to have this particular kind of tree.





But when I came back from my run, I saw there was a sign on the tree. I guess the execution is not yet a done deal. The neighbors may have a say. (Apparently one other neighbor also agreed to have their tree cut down.)