I live in a quiet neighborhood by the river in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. I can take walks and pass geese on the river, historic homes and other lovely sights. This is a neighborhood where people spend time outside, playing with kids on the lawn or walking their dogs. Lawns are green, old trees shade walkways and rabbits abound.
Even though I rent, I take pride in my home. I keep the yard up, decorate for holidays and make sure my trash goes our on trash day. I don't think it's hard to do these things. Except for two car breaks-ins in the past year, we have not had any trouble on our street. We have a lot of rental properties but most renters seem to take care of their homes.
One of the houses next door is now empty except for one tenant. The owner passed away a few months ago. She was in her 80's. My husband cut her grass and we liked her a lot.
The house on the other side used to be a rental property, but is now a single family home. It has been in a state of "repair" for months. On March 24, the neighbor had two perfectly healthy cedar trees cut down. When we asked the tree trimmers what was going on, they couldn't believe anyone would cut down such perfect trees. The trees were on her lot, but shaded ours.
Now the remaining trees are marked to be cut. I got a call from the electric company that power will be shut down on Friday for tree cutting. Unfortunately, they are not on our property. While they are hardly near the house next door, they provide all the shade our house gets. You can see what it looks like on my photo website.
I informed my landlord and contacted the village to see if anything can be done. The village said the trees can be cut because they are on a residential property. They might be protected if it was a commercial property because of their size. Now we will wait until Friday to see how devastating the tree killing will be.
You may ask, "Why didn't you go to the neighbor directly?" When we rented in Waukesha, most of what the city told us when we had problems was that the landlord had to call the city. I am trying to follow the appropriate chain of command because I respect my landlord. Had I not told him about the call from the power company, he wouldn't have know the trees were coming down. The only interaction my husband and I have had with the neighbor was her asking him to remove a Halloween decoration from a tree. This was last year; she said it could damage the tree. Damage it more than cutting it down?!
