Dec 27, 2007 9:10 pm US/Eastern
Squirrel Hill Residents Question Tree Removal
Pittsburgh Public Works: Old Trees Are A Liability To City
SQUIRREL HILL (KDKA) ―
Thousands of shade trees in Pittsburgh neighborhoods are coming down as part of the city's plan to remove old or dying trees.
But some residents in Squirrel Hill were caught off guard by the program and want it stopped until the matter can be discussed in a public forum.
Resident Terri Glueck calls the damage irreversible.
"It will denude this entire block of its green leafy canopy and make a dramatic and diminished impact on the neighborhood," she said.
In the next few months, the city plans to remove 550 trees in Squirrel Hill.
Pittsburgh Public Works Director Guy Costa says the trees are a danger and have been identified as such by a tree consultant company that inventoried and studied all 30,000 of the city's street trees.
"They can fall, they can injure folks, they can injure vehicles, they can injure - they can damage homes, so we've been made aware of it, it's a liability for the city and we're taking a proactive approach to take these trees down," Costa explained.
Diana Ames, the head of the city's Shade Tree Commission, reluctantly agrees with the plan, noting that it calls for planting an even greater number of new trees than those removed. Still, as a tree lover herself, she hates to see the old ones go.
"I wouldn't do this if I didn't believe it was absolutely necessary," she said.
But the $8 million plan is still largely unfunded, currently lacking the money for the replacement trees. And the residents are tying green ribbons around many of the trees saying they're still viable and should be spared.
"Why can't they be staggered so that one's removed, one's planted, or some other balance," Glueck said. "And if the money's not there, and the scheduled planting hasn't taken place, why do the removals need to take place right now?"
The city says it's willing to hold a public forum on the issue sometime in early January. In the meantime, they'll continue to remove trees and say they have no plans of stopping.
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