Letter: Sycamore trees are scourge to mankind

Many years ago, the government-owned city of Richland sent residents a message: “You dig the holes and we’ll deliver the trees. You plant.”

The shade-and-tree-starved residents eagerly complied and the trees were delivered — sycamores!

Now those innocent-appearing saplings have become giant behemoths which line Cottonwood Drive and the shelter belt. These monsters shed bark, trillions of seeds and tons of leaves year-round. Their massive roots spread into neighboring lawns, break up and destroy driveways and sidewalks, crack home foundations, clog city drains, and make a mess of the street. Residents who wisely removed them years ago wage an incessant battle against these ogres in vain attempts to defend their property. But the gifts from Hell keep coming and coming.

Many people living here now didn’t plant the trees themselves and probably find removal too expensive, even if they wanted to do it. Therefore, since this scourge to mankind was imposed on residents by the city, it seems there should be some kind of recompense by the city. This could be a monetary incentive offered by the city to encourage residents to remove them.

Let’s have a dialogue about this. We sycamore victims deserve some relief!

This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Letter: Sycamore trees are scourge to mankind."