Do you like trees? I like trees. I would be hard pressed to think of a tree I didn't like. Well okay, I've never been a big fan (so to speak) of palm trees, especially as urban trees -- which is why I felt somewhat vindicated a few years ago, when Los Angeles evidently decided that those spindly, frequently non-native, shadeless Dr. Seuss-inspired creatures will be less ubiquitous in that city in the future, despite their iconic status there.

Some people don't seem to like trees at all, though. A few days ago the Los Angeles Times (oddly enough) published an interesting in-depth article by Tina Susman about a spate of recent tree-killings in New York City. Apparently it's not enough that multiple windstorms have been dropping trees all over the city; someone out there thinks that getting rid of trees (or possibly just making mischief) is worth wandering around in a park at night with a chainsaw. People have also been protesting the planting of individual street trees, on the basis of everything from blocked views to inflamed allergies.

Susman's L.A. Times article brings up interesting issues, though. For instance, several residents complained to her that the city Parks Department expects them to take care of the street trees, whether they wanted the trees or not. They complained that the roots crack the sidewalks, and that they're expected to sweep fallen leaves and berries. How much can the city expect of residents, when it comes to looking after trees? One resident told Susman, "the tree doesn't belong to [the city] if it falls. It only belongs to them if you do something to it."

An extreme example of perceived Parks Department negligence made local TV recently, after a massive tree fell across a street in Queens, tearing the sidewalk up with it. The tree was removed, but the stump and sidewalk were left in a state of impressive and impassable disrepair. When residents called 311, they were told it would be years before the stump could be removed. (I suspect, however, that the gravity of the situation was intially unclear to the recipients of the complaints. In any case, once the Parks Department learned that the issue was going to be on TV, repairs commenced.)

All of this is frustrating for people, like those at the Parks Department and MillionTreesNYC, who are trying to bring more trees to New York City. But the majority of the response to the MillionTrees program has been positive, to the extent that there is a multi-year waiting list for people requesting trees. MillionTrees also organizes a Stewardship Corps to help care for the new trees, which theoretically should reduce some of the burden on reluctant locals. And those locals might be interested in this BBC report on a study that detailed the health benefits of living close to greenery!