I think that I shall never see ... a poem as beautiful as - the two giant 200-year-old maple trees which Auburn city workers “removed” from my Van Anden Street neighborhood on July 24.

I think that this tree removal of three-foot diameter, healthy full-grown maples is a shame and waste of Auburn taxpayer dollars!

It took two dump truck, one front loader and one cherry picker with (three hours) 10 city workers to saw down these beautiful shade trees - all in the cause of “new sidewalks” (and people walk in the street!)

I can safely say it would have been cheaper and “saved” these two trees to curve the sidewalk when it came to the trees.

Trees are a valuable asset to any city. Trees provide oxygen and take in CO2 in the process, reducing greenhouse gases which are responsible for global warming.

Trees are also valuable in the homeowner/real estate market as landscape beautification.

Also, trees reduce cooling costs in summer time with shady yards and reduce heating costs in winter by providing a windbreaker.

When the city removes trees 200 years old, you cannot replace that with nursery stock trees. In addition, isn't it time for the utility companies to stop butchering our trees - they look like half-eaten broccoli, ugly afterward! (For wires which should have been buried years ago.)

In closing, Auburn - “Do we take paradise and put up a parking lot?” (quote Carly Simon) or do we become conscientious stewards of the land?

Jeffrey A. Nichols

Auburn