For 40 years, Bob Tomanek has lived on a Gretna, Nebraska corner shaded by a towering oak. In early October, a city-ordered crew took that tree down, and under Gretna’s code the estimated $3,500 cost of the removal is his to pay, WOWT reported.
The oak, estimated at 100 feet tall, stood on the strip of public right-of-way between the curb and the sidewalk at a busy corner near downtown Gretna. Neighbors argued it looked healthy. The city said its arborist had found it diseased and dying.
A Corner Oak, a Complaint and an Arborist’s Finding
The case began with a complaint. Gretna code inspector Josh Lubrano told WOWT the city responds to citizen complaints rather than surveying trees on its own, and that a complaint about this oak led to an inspection.
The city arborist, working with Gretna’s tree board, reported that the tree had disease and was dying. Lubrano said a falling tree weighing several tons could hurt someone at a corner used by drivers and people on foot. “It’s dying, it’s got disease,” he said…