Saddened by City’s Removal of Trees

In response to an article (May 12) regarding the destruction of 300 trees in Buena Park, I was bewildered when I came home from work one afternoon to find a dumpster parked in front of my home.

I called the company whose name was stenciled on the side to ask who had ordered it. I was advised that they had been hired by the city, which would be cutting down trees the following day.

I called Buena Park City Hall to protest and found, as Lynn Thomas did, complete apathy on the part of the city and sadly found that my neighbors shared the same attitude. I felt so helpless when I awoke to the sound of chain saws and leaf shredders the next morning.

Ten years ago, when we purchased our home in Buena Park, my husband spent the first afternoon at home waiting for various utilities to be installed. The minute our telephone was installed, he called me at work. He held the receiver up to an open window so that I could hear several mockingbirds singing outside.

Since the majority of our California pepper trees have been removed on our street, we strain to hear a mockingbird off in the distance.

Obviously, we have not only lost the beauty of living on a tree-lined street, but we have lost the songbirds that nested in our trees.

How can a city that calls itself “The Tree City” be so unfeeling toward trees? The saplings that are replacing but a few of the lost trees should be mature in about 14 years. Is that when the city spends $51,000 to cut them down?

D.B. CAVITT

Buena Park