Tree falling on house result of city cutting roots for a new sidewalk, resident says

A tree fell on a house in Brentwood in a storm recently. A resident blames it on the former city practice of cutting a tree’s roots to make way for a new sidewalk.

Brentwood resident Barry Williams says he warned the city that removing roots of trees to install new sidewalks on Bridgeport Avenue in spring 2016 could kill the trees.

The remaining stump at 8730 Bridgeport shows scars where its roots were cut. Williams said, “The tree collapsed because the buttress at the base of its trunk was irrevocably compromised when the sidewalk replacement crew carved out a large chunk of it with chain saws two years ago.”

The city now has a new director of public works and arborist, and the practice has ended according to Williams. He said a new sidewalk on Strassner Drive curves around established pin oak trees.

He said a resident at 8730 Bridgeport said the city realizes it’s at least partly to blame for the fallen tree and has offered to pay for the damage.

Williams shared some emails from 2016 he had with then interim director of public works, Eric Gruenenfelder and arborist Peter Van Linn, and City Administrator Bola Akande.

In July 2016, Williams wrote Gruenenfelder and Van Linn: “I spoke with Richmond Heights Arborist Tim Brunsman about the recent tree mutilations on Bridgeport, and he said enlightened cities are opting for sidewalk-repair alternatives that don’t harm trees. One such option is to replace heaved/broken concrete panels with panels made of flexible materials. I hope Brentwood will adopt such alternatives as soon as possible.”

A couple days later he wrote: “I hope you will visit the 8700 block of Bridgeport to see what the sidewalk installers did there. They badly wounded 6 large City trees, carving away large sections of their trunks’ base in order to install new sidewalk panels. These wounds will result in the trees’ premature death…”

Later in the he summer emailed Akande: “I am writing to thank you for the positive change I’m seeing around town. While there are still instances of trees being unnecessarily injured by City sidewalk-replacement crews, the situation is better, and it’s now commonplace to see the crews narrowing the new panels in order to provide more space for the trees.”