Who Looks Out for the Trees?

Last August, according to the Register-Star, the mayor announced that the Galvan Initiatives Foundation and Operation Unite would be working with the City on a multi-year project to plant trees in "arborially challenged parts of the city." According to the mayor, the project would "focus on parts of the city that were most in need, such as Columbia and State streets." The project began last fall, planting frail young trees on State Street near the Armory. A noble undertaking, but who's looking out for the mature trees in those same "arborially challenged" parts of the city.

Gossips received word yesterday that street trees were being cut down in the first block of Columbia Street, in that part of the city re-imagined during Urban Renewal. A visit to the block this morning discovered three stumps--one that seemed to have been a stump for a while, two others that were quite fresh.

Unlike the usual street trees, which are planted on the street side of the sidewalk, these trees had been planted along the inner edge of sidewalk, abutting the fenced front yards of the houses: 11, 17, and 29 Columbia Street. The detail below from a Bing map, which unfortunately for our purpose shows the block in leaf-off season, documents the three trees in place--the only three street trees on the block.

The question is: Who wanted these trees gone? Since property owners are responsible for the sidewalks in front of their buildings, one might assume that the trees were cut down at the homeowners' behest. According to the tax rolls, these three houses--11, 17, and 29 Columbia Street--have three different owners. Is it likely that the three of them got together and decided to eliminate all the trees on their block? If so, for what earthly reason?
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