The Battle for Tacoma’s Trees
Citizens revolt against a plan to destroy shade trees to make way for unsightly power poles.
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Councilman Hawley's ordinance providing for the destruction of shade trees where they interfered with electric wires has been called off. People who have gone to considerable trouble and expense to grow shade trees strenuously objected to having them cut down to give place to unsightly poles and wires. These property owners appealed to the streets and alleys committee, with the result that the objectionable ordinance was recalled. An attempt will now be made to pass an ordinance authorizing the commissioner of public works to trim all shade trees over 30 feet high where they interfere with the wires, and where the property owners do not object they may be cut down.
“People who have gone to considerable trouble and expense to grow shade trees strenuously objected to having them cut down to give place to unsightly poles and wires.”
Tacoma’s long-standing tension between municipal infrastructure—from early 20th-century electric poles to modern light rail and urban density—and the preservation of the city's green canopy remains a central, unresolved civic debate. Residents continue to fight to protect the historic character of their neighborhoods against utility-driven tree removal.
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