Do Good Neighbors Cut Down Healthy Trees?

A blog on Boston.com has caused a lot of stir about trees in Somerville.

Somerville resident Patrick Smith is a pilot who normally blogs about air travel. But in his recent post, Smith tackled a subject firmly rooted in the ground.

It seems there's been a spate of tree felling in his neighborhood outside Davis Square, with several neighbors cutting down healthy, beautiful trees on their private property.

The final blow, from Smith's perspective, happened when a neighbor on Appleton Street cut down a 100-year-old tree that gave character and dignity to the entire neighborhood.

The neighbor cut down the tree to make room for a work shed, according to Smith, who wrote, "The whole aesthetic of the block now is changed—for the worse. Suddenly when I look out the back of my house to where this fantastic tree used to be, there's just empty sky and the rear facades of the neighbors' houses. The lighting, view, the feel ... everything is different."

It's worth reading the whole post.

Smith then raises some interesting points. On the one hand, private property is private property, and owners should have the right to do with it whatever they please.

On the other hand, zoning laws exist to prevent private property owners from infringing on the rights, quality of life and property values of neighbors.

"For some of us urbanites, even a single tree makes a gigantic difference in the way a property looks and feels," Smith wrote.

He asked: "Is it crazy or un-American to suggest that, at a certain point, a tree is no longer one person's private property per se, and belongs to the community?"

Somerville bills itself as "Tree City" and has tree-planting initiatives. In its "Happiness Survey," Somerville found that trees add to residents' enjoyment of the city.

Legal issues aside, is it an unneighborly thing to cut down trees enjoyed by the whole neighborhood?