The removal of some trees in Edgewood drew one resident to Monday night’s city council meeting.
Angela Hayes, a resident of Edgemar Drive, said that mature trees, 40 to 50 years old, are now gone.
The city’s director of general services, Bob Begnoche, said that any homeowner who had two trees in the public right of way that were brought down, would be eligible to have a new tree planted in the yard.
Hayes said that she doesn’t have any trees affected by the city’s removal project but said that she walks regularly and is devadtated by the scene. She said that the trees in question had not damaged the sidewalks or roadways.
There was also an encounter between Begnoche and Hayes that each party characterizes differently. Hayes said that Begnoche is cutting down trees and questioned whether he was an arborist, and that Begnoche told her to “get her little butt home.”
Begnoche said that he never told her that, and that a foreman working on the job could corroborate that.
Mayor John Link said that in 1974, he had planted ash trees that eventually fell victim to emerald ash bore. He said that all the trees in the city being removed were dead or are dying, and that some of the trees’ roots were damaging sidewalks. Link also noted falling limbs that struck cars or buses, and also made snow-plowing difficult.
The mayor said that Begnoche is not an arborist but that he is able to see which trees are dying.
Deborah Mueller, a resident of Brookside Drive, said that she had to remove twenty-five trees on her property because of disease, and that sidewalks near the trees had started to move.
“Edgewood is beautiful,” Mueller told Hayes. “I think you’re backing a dead horse, or a wrong horse.”
Mueller said it is not up to the city to make her yard and property beautiful. On the other hand, if someone would get hurt on her sidewalk, she thought she would be liable.
“I’m here as the other side,” she said.
City administrator Brian Dehner said that the city has purchased seventy-five trees for people who would like them, but they must be planted on homeowners’ property and not in the right of way.
“We are not against trees,” he said. “We believe in doing the best for the community.”
The leftover stumps will be removed, too, and then city crews can replace or repair the sidewalks that are damaged.
In other news, city council heard the first reading of an ordinance that would permit Edgewood to demand that a company stop throwing advertisements in yards if the resident no longer wants them. There would be penalties for non-compliance.
Councilman Joe Messmer said he thought the council ought to rethink the ordinance, because he thought people would be upset if they didn’t get their ads. Â Â
Dehner said that people who want the ads don’t have to do anything, they will still receive them, but the people who are like him, who pick up the ads and toss them in the trash, would rather have the company stop tossing them in their yard.
Mayor Link announced that the annual Easter Egg hunt will be on Saturday, April 6 at Freedom Park, rain or shine, for children ages 3 to 8 at 2 p.m.
There will be a senior expo at the Senior Center on March 14 from 2 to 4 p.m., and all seniors are welcome.
The annual Mystery Dinner will be on March 23 and the theme is the game of Monopoly. Details are on the city’s website.
