Give Residents A Voice

Dear Editor,

I was concerned and upset recently when I saw how the City had removed several trees along the businesses near the corner of F St. (HWY 108) and on Yosemite Blvd (HWY 120) in Oakdale. The once serene landscape there is now rather stark and utilitarian. When discussing the reasons for the tree removal with two different employees of the City of Oakdale Public Works Dept. the reasons given for the tree removal were such things as the trees were dirtying the sidewalks with leaves and debris, complaints had been received from the adjacent merchants, and the trees looked bad due to poor maintenance. Apparently, the trees that were removed were originally to be just “trimmed,” but the staff decided capriciously during the trimming process to remove them in total. Besides removing these beautiful trees, just around the corner along Poplar and Third Street, all the trees there were severely trimmed, removing beautiful branches that provide shade and beauty, and also remove carbon dioxide from automobile emissions and produce much needed oxygen.

It just seems that since every citizen who resides in the Oakdale community is affected by these type of actions, capricious and arbitrary decisions to remove and destroy community property should be disallowed. And proposed actions, such as removing large and old beautiful trees, that alter community property, should be reviewed first by the community at large, instead of being left to one or two individuals or merchants to decide.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Spencer Tacke