Pam, every municipality should have a tree evaluation plan in place, and probably do. The trouble is, many of these "plans" are very simplistic, like putting trees on a 3 or 4 year rotation for maintenance pruning. The problem is, trees really need yearly pruning. Budget concerns have reduced plans to just removing "dangerous" trees or branches, and attending to the remaining urban forest as they can. In a city like Lakewood (or River) there are just so many trees, cities get behind. The other issue is that many cities are eliminating their Forestry departments, and simply rolling that responsibility into the heading of the "Service" department. Too often that means that when crews are done cold asphalt patching the streets, they move on to trying to care for trees. Too often tree work is being done by crews that have had minimal training in tree care, with no Certified Arborist on staff to guide them. I can't speak to every city, but in the Arborist forums and organizations I'm involved with, those concerns are routinely mentioned.

You have Charlene Hall, and we thank you for that. This is happening all over Lakewood. It is not going away as it is not a priority with the city. Ahhh, but bullie dogs are, and they have killed how many people??? Wait , the answer is coming--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------...