Shepherd Forest Residents Want City To Replace Trees

HOUSTON, TX — You leave home one morning and the trees are there, then when you return later that day, they're gone, cut down and chopped up into pieces. Gone also is the sound buffer the trees provided, and the shade.

"Went and ran a few errands. Came back and all the trees were gone," Jamie Farquhar-Rizzo, who lives in a home located near where the trees once stood, told KTRK. "The name of the neighborhood is Shepherd Forest. What are we going to call it if you remove all the trees?"

"I was crying when I came down the driveway. It was horrible," Sandra Reyna, whose home is close to where the trees stood, added.

Yes, Shepherd Forest is a little less green today. Months ago, the city of Houston determined that the nine trees were decayed and posed a danger to pedestrians and motorists. The trees had to go, and, according to city officials, since they were located on city right-of-way there was no conflict. But area residents are upset that they were not notified.

"I think that's the biggest problem. The city should have notified us," Farquhar-Rizzo said.

One member of the Houston City Council agrees with them. Brenda Stardig wrote Mayor Sylvester Turner's office to complain about the lack of notification. The city's Parks and Recreation Department, however, maintains that no notice was required because the trees stood along a major thoroughfare.

The neighborhood, near 34th and Stally streets, is full of tall trees, and the residents love them. They want the city to replace the ones that were chopped down last Friday.

"We're thinking, maybe, like 20 tall Cypress trees," Farquhar-Rizzo added. "The damage has been done, but there needs to be some kind of replacement."

A call to the city Parks Department was not immediately returned.

— Image:flickr/Matthew Rutledge