Dear Brookfield trustees,

I was very upset last night when, parking in front of my house, I noticed that all the trees on my block have been amputated to the point that only a few branches remain at the top.

This upsets me for several reasons:

1) Cutting the trees like this makes it very hard for them to survive – they simply won’t have enough foliage to feed themselves come spring and will start to die. A perfect example of this is in one of the attached photos – in the front, you see the newly cut trees and in the background an older tree that suffered the same fate and is now marked for removal because it has died.

2) Several of our trees are not ash trees. The tree in front of my house is a silver maple, and on the adjacent block I’ve seen evergreen trees cut the same way. If you look at the photos, you will notice not one of the branches cut off was showing signs of disease.

3) There are no power lines in the parkway – our power lines run to the back alley.

4) Trees increase property value and curb appeal, and we are effectively killing them by cutting them this way (and they lose their pleasant natural shape). It will take 10-15 years for the trees to grow back to a mature size.

5) Property owners were never informed of this action, so we could have at least discussed the pros and cons before they came out and killed our trees.

6) Brookfield promotes itself as part of the Tree USA program and this cutting measure is counter-productive to that affiliation.

Tragically, the damage is done on my block and the trees will probably be marked in a few years for removal because they have died – which is great business for the tree service Brookfield hired, but to the detriment of the homeowners and beautification of the village in general. I would hope that the village in the future would discuss such propositions with homeowners before sending out a service so that we may have a chance to voice our concerns and make any changes before action is taken.

I also think Brookfield should work with a different tree service – one that promotes tree health, not sending them to an early grave.

Jessica Mandra
Brookfield