Historic Oklahoma City neighborhood upset about losing trees
Those homeowners said crews took out the history that makes their part of town so special.
Those homeowners said crews took out the history that makes their part of town so special.
Those homeowners said crews took out the history that makes their part of town so special.
A historic Oklahoma City neighborhood is upset about losing some of its trees.
Those homeowners said crews took out the history that makes their part of town so special.
Some of the threes in the neighborhood are about 100 years old and the neighborhood, in particular, cares about saving a certain tree so much, that they posted a sign asking crews not to chop it down.
"I moved to this neighborhood because of the trees in this neighborhood," said Jimmie Puckett, who lives in the Linwood Place neighborhood.
Puckett has lived on Northwest 20th Street and is taking matters into his own hands, hiring an arborist to trim the tree in the front yard.
"This is Oklahoma’s first urban conservation district. We have very high standards for our homes and our upkeep, and we pass that on to our trees and our 19th Street easement there, it’s very beautiful," Puckett said.
They said OG&E crews were seen chopping down trees in the neighborhood earlier this week for power line maintenance down Land Street and 20th Street. This has neighbors furious with the company.
"It’s incredibly upsetting. You have generations of neighbors in this neighborhood who are upset by it, by people who have moved in recently and people who their fathers are the ones who planted this tree 90 years ago. It’s a devastating loss for the neighbors here," said Travis Roach, who lives in the Linwood Place neighborhood.
OG&E sent out a statement that said they're aware of the number of calls for concern in the Linwood neighborhood and they will continue to work with certified arborists to mitigate the impact trees can have on electric service.
Their website explains they continue to maintain trees near powerlines every four years, pruning trees anywhere from 10 to 14 feet from power lines.
However, neighbors said this went much further than pruning.
"We have 90-year-old trees they’ve maintained at a four-year interval up until this point that are now grown. It took them 90 years to grow and 2 days to chop down," Roach said.