Butchered Trees in Dallas and More From Robert Wilonsky This Week

Here's the latest edition of Robert Wilonsky's Most Dallas Newsletter Ever. Enter your email address to subscribe below.Stop over-topping your trees, DallasFirst off, yes, I will serve if elected. Just so we're clear. I mean, we're only a day into early voting, almost two. So there's still time. You know what I mean. WINK. I mean, yeah. I did consider running for mayor. For, like, 16 seconds. Some time back in mid-June, I think it was, when I was under the influence of an epidural and intravenous morphine. I just assume that's how most people decide to run for mayor, when they're buzzed on something, even if it's just their own ego. Or maybe that's why you run for City Council. But I like this job best. For now, anyway. Check back in two years. Or next time I'm a hospital bed for a week. So, now, to viewer mail and a subject with which I have some familiarity: butchered trees in northwest Dallas. A couple of years back it was along Forest Lane, in front of that Home Depot, where CubeSmart topped all them trees so drivers along LBJ Freeway could see their storage facilities — geniuses. The latest case of vigorous tree-topping comes from Inwood Road off Lemmon Avenue, near Dallas Love Field. A friend of the show sent the above photo a few days back and wondered, "More serial tree murders?" As I am not yet a certified arborist, or, really, knowledgeable about anything of substance and value, I checked with Phil Erwin, the city's chief arborist and all-round good man. "Do you remember how the live oaks on Forest were listed by us as irreparable damage instead of removed?" he wrote via email. Of course, of course! "This is similar. This is not the first harsh prune job on these particular trees. It will be the last. I'll need to have them replace these. You can see the history of this by using the Google Maps Street View history timeline." Erwin was aware of the situation before I emailed him the photos. "We spotted it," he said. "We will be handing them a notice to start replacing missing landscaping. It will probably a different species." I often wish I were a different species.Latest columns  Continue reading...