There’s a big project that’s started in the neighbourhood. I heard by the scuttlebutt that my next-door neighbour’s trees that are by the road might be cut down. I came home last evening by the beach road, and saw that the drainage ditch was full of trees. Then I noticed that the big tree right at the corner of the driveway was down too. (It was along the road, but for some reason I didn’t think it might be one of the ones to go.)
We can now actually see the bay without having to go to the end of the driveway. And we won’t get cedar bits raining down on the cars. And I’ll be able to see cars and people coming up the hill when I back out. On the other hand, it seems less private. Not that we hang out in the front yard, but it just looks weird.
Usually, when trees are getting cut down, everybody gets all up in arms in protest. People love them trees! (Myself included.)
Several years ago in Sonoma County, there was a county maintenance project to cut down trees. There are/were various roads around there lined with large stately old trees (often eucalyptus). Many have been cut down, leaving rows of stumps in their place. Many more were planned to be cut down, until enough people got all up in arms about it.
The argument was that the trees were at risk of falling over, creating hazard to motorists.
They have also been cutting down a lot a trees (mostly redwoods) alongside the freeway (U. S. 101 north of Santa Rosa) for freeway widening, in the last several years.
My Canadian part-time neighbour told me several years ago that the first guy to win on a certain game show (I don’t remember which one, but I think he was a contractor) was planning to buy property here. But the plan fell through when people found out he just wanted to buy it so he could cut down the trees. (I should mention that my neighbour’s information can be very inaccurate.)
Nobody lives next door, where the trees were cut down. The house is owned by someone, and family members use it in Summer, apparently on a rotating basis. I don’t think anyone is going to complain. Actually, people ‘tut-tutted’ when the owner had a couple of large (about three-foot diameter) cedars cut down. I’m sure they won’t care about the municipal work. There’s a single-wide trailer on the other side of my house. The property line-obsessed (seriously, it’s been over 20 years and settled by a court!) neighbour uses it on weekends. The elderly Canadian couple across the street are only here Summer weekends. It gets pretty quiet here when the weather cools.