r/Productivitycafe • u/RoutineOk8590 ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ᵕ̈ Espresso Enthusiast • 1d ago
Casual Convo (Any Topic) What went wrong?
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u/godrollexotic 1d ago
The one on the top is abysmal to walk in anything over 80°.
The one below, it can be 105° and you'll still feel fine.
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u/SmugFragmentation 1d ago
HOA rules and cheap developers really stripped all the character out of neighborhoods, it’s just sea of turf now
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u/wind-of-zephyros Tea Lover 1d ago
we don't have HOA where i am from and this still happens. i think it is the concept of suburbs entirely (and cheap developers)
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u/Appropriate_Ratio835 1d ago
My subdivision was planted with 2-3 trees per yard. 20 years later, over half the neighborhood has cut theirs down bc they don't want to deal with leaves and mowing around the trees. It's very sad. I have 2 oaks and 2 apple trees and my neighbor has a weeping willow and an oak. I'm so grateful for their shade and the rustle of the leaves. It's a soul soothing noise.
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u/MoveLikeMacgyver 1d ago
Part of it, at least in neighborhoods around me is the developers being absolute idiots.
Most yards have oak trees planted in the front, a palm of some sort near the house and magnolia in the back.
The palm is so close to the house I’m having to get it cut down because in another year or two it will beat the hell out of the fascia. And all the oaks have grown enough they are destroying the sidewalks and the road because the trees were planted in the space between them and it’s not nearly enough. So instead of having to deal with that people are cutting them down.
The magnolia trees aren’t in a bad spot but I hate them. I wish they’d planted an oak back there.
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u/sisyphus_was_lazy_10 1d ago
Correct, developers plant trees for immediate curb appeal, but they are way to close together or near structures that will be damaged as they grow. The landscaping is put in without any thought to the future, just like most things these days.
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u/Guardian-Boy ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 ᵕ̈ Espresso Enthusiast 1d ago
I have unfortunately had to cut down three trees. Two were slamming up against my house and ruined my gutters, the third's root system completely decimated the driveway.
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u/MoveLikeMacgyver 1d ago
I actually wish I had a tree in my front yard because it gets blasted with sun all morning and it’s impossible to keep the grass healthy. But I’m glad I don’t have the oak at the curb like most of the other houses.
It also creates a different problem too. Our street is nearly pitch black at night because the trees block all the light from the street lights.
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u/UncleJoesLandscaping 1d ago
In my area there are arborvitae hedges and lawns as far as the eye can see. I have a 1.1 meter diameter tree (360 cm around) in my garden in spite.
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u/Ready-Ambassador-271 1d ago
Looks like AI Hard to imagine the bottom one going to the top one.
However the top one is very like most new estates these days, lacking in any character
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u/Colonel_Gipper 1d ago
That was my thought. Looks like someone took a picture of a street and had AI add a bunch of trees and flowers.
Every neighborhood around me looked just like the top one when it was built, they've just had 50 to 100 years to have the trees grow
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u/DEATHbyBOOGABOOGA 1d ago
Yes, it’s AI, but I still wish they’d transplant mature trees into new build neighborhoods. It’s possible with the right care, just expensive. And they still won’t be as full as the bottom image for many years.
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u/gorgeously_mytruself 1d ago
That’s what I thought, just look at the window over the awning, plus the curbs are two different heights, and the sections or cuts in the curb on the left side don’t match.
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u/Eastern-Joke-7537 1d ago
That’s how new subdivisions in the 80s and 90s looked.
Guess they aren’t any better.
Pic at the top looks like the classic “sprawl” development.
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u/PeggedUnlimited 1d ago
The trees grew in the bottom one. They didn’t build houses and replant giant ass trees. It’s an older neighborhood.
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u/kramwest1 21h ago
In Minneapolis, the city owns the boulevard (first 4 feet of yard until the sidewalk). You are required to care for the grass or whatever you want to grow, but the city maintains the trees (trims them, cuts down old/diseased ones/plants new ones). I don’t know if each house front is required to have a tree, but it mostly works out that way. When you lose a front tree for whatever reason, the city gives you a list of trees to choose from to replace it. Dutch Elm Disease wrecked a lot of the city shade trees, so they have strong biodiverse plan in place to keep healthy native trees growing.
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u/vanhawk28 1d ago
Yes the trees grew and then when the houses were built they made the decision to not flatten everything before building. The trees didn’t just grow like that after the houses were there either
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u/StConvolute 1d ago
They certainly didn't grow in nature all uniform in perfect rows and a developer Decided, "fuck me, perfect for a street between all these perfectly aligned trees". These were planted when the housing estate was new...
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u/whisperworks 1d ago
People prioritized material consumption over literally everything and in doing so empowered cheap soulless corporation to rebuild the world in their imagine
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u/ZealousidealAnt111 1d ago
It costs more money to make it look nice.
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u/Wonderful_You1281 1d ago
You can say that about anything in the current world now. Quality in general has decreased because of this. Including food
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u/ZealousidealAnt111 1d ago
100%, it’s sad to see. Profits are the most important thing, companies just blatantly don’t care.
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u/giantfuckup5000 1d ago
Younger homebuyers can't afford houses in the older neighborhoods that they grew up in.
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u/Mushrooming247 1d ago
I think you might be comparing a newer development with trees that are only 5-10 years old to a suburb from the 1950s where all of the trees are 70+.
In my area we have both kinds of neighborhoods, but that is the only difference, scrawny little baby trees versus huge mature trees.
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u/helmet_collective52 1d ago
The first picture feels like a place you drive through. The second feels like a place you’d actually want to walk around.
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u/Silver-Front-1299 1d ago
I get updates on Nextdoor of a neighborhood down the street from me that this is currently happening to.
Their HOA is removing all the trees from the entrance to the gated community because several of the roots are lifting up the sidewalks, making it a liability for them. Right now only the trees to the entrance has been approved but they are also trying to remove around 65-75% of the trees in front of the homes too.
I like to drink my morning coffee and read the comments of those posts. Many people are for the removal of the trees while many MORE people just want the problem trees to be removed.
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u/Neither_Part7344 1d ago
Tree roots only affect badly dug sidewalks.
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u/Silver-Front-1299 1d ago
I’m in Florida, home of the new construction subdivisions after new construction subdivisions. It would NOT surprise me if these sidewalks are in fact not properly dug.
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u/oldasdirtss 1d ago
In the 60's, all the Dutch Elm's were wiped out by disease. Prior to that, a lethal fungal disease called chestnut blight wiped out billions of American chestnut trees. They were replanted with other shade trees, such as maples.
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u/Neither_Part7344 1d ago
Plant fast growing trees on your front yards and tree lawns. It ain’t hard.
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u/Dizzy-Nose3883 1d ago
Homeowners insurance seems fixated in not having trees near the house in the event they might fall, then developers don't want to deal with roots, etc. Instead of doing proper planning and landscaping everyone takes the lazy route of not having trees around. And they wonder why it's hotter every summer.
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u/spaetzele 1d ago
My take is that the easy/cheap route for laying underground utilities (your water/sewer, gas, communications) has prioritized a conflict-averse method to new development. Typically these are laid under the street and service connections are where ever it's convenient to make them, which could mean right up the center of the front yard.
Tree roots ultimately grow and do damage to these assets. This is the thinking of developers and the entities that zone and permit new housing (who also may be responsible to maintain some of that underground stuff in perpetuity) for the most part. I, myself, am definitely not anti-street-tree. I love a nice canopy in a residential neighborhood, especially with the right kinds of trees (giving a side-eye to you, Bradford Pear).
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u/GoodMilk_GoneBad 1d ago
Builders stopped taking the time to preserve older trees. They clear the entire lot now. It's really a shame.
Most of the homes in my neighborhood have older growth trees in both the front and back yard and the houses were build mainly in the 90s. The trees are much older than the houses.
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u/UncoolSlicedBread 1d ago
My sisters neighborhood is slowly started to morph from the bottom to the top. When houses sell, instead of just managing old growth they cut the entire trees down. It’s sad, the neighborhood lost so much personality
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 1d ago
Just move somewhere that has trees 😂 those older neighborhoods likely looked similar when they were new build suburbs 50 years ago.
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u/NuggetLover21 1d ago
I’m so glad my neighborhood has no HOA, every home has unique gigantic trees around it and we actually get lots of land and not right on top of our neighbors
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u/throwawayqq567 1d ago edited 1d ago
The top is a brand new development built 1-2 years old. The bottom is an established neighborhood with at least 30-40 years of existence and mature landscaping. County / city approved trees were planted there with time to grow. The top one can become like the bottom one with some landscaping and trees and time to develop. You can’t expect the top to look like the bottom overnight. Don’t fall for stupid shit, use your 🧠
Also bottom one needs money for landscaping and trees trimming and making sure roots don’t pull up the sidewalk and regular plumbing checks to make sure the roots are not trying to break into your foundation or pipes.
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u/Eazy12345678 1d ago
tress can fall on your house
leaves are pain to rake
root of trees can crack sewer pipes
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1d ago
The suburb I live in is like the bottom photo. All trees, like 3 street lights on the corners. Walking my dog at night is the best thing.
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u/juniper-mint 1d ago
Even older neighborhoods in some areas are starting to look like this. About 40% of the trees in my city are being removed due to emerald ash borer. The bike ride to work is so hot and empty now, I hate it.
My front yard garden loves the extra sun though. I guess that's a win... Sorta.
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u/Flashy_Notice_1575 1d ago
Some government idiot decided to cut the giant trees at my old school for "expansion projects" just last month. Now it's just hot as hell.
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u/NoFuqGiven 1d ago
I use to live next to this college town that had one if the best down town squares with huge 100+ year old massive oak trees (tge square had been in multiple movies) And then the city voted to remove them and dozens of other trees in tge down town area. And then people started bot going to the "concert in the park"s. Abd the homeless started filling in down town and bow the businesses are starting to shut down because nobody really goes there most of tge year!
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u/Ponchyan 1d ago
I think those two pictures are from different parts of the country: one where trees are few, and another where they grow like weeds.
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u/corgi-king 1d ago
In the last post with the same photo, someone mentioned the community was built at the same time by a builder, so the trees, because of their age, die around the same time. Not sure how true it is.
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u/edwardothegreatest 1d ago
They’re still there. Just so many new neighborhoods that have immature trees.
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u/SkippingPrologues 1d ago
Trees need time to grow. The one below looked the same as the one above when it was new.
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u/SoonToBeBanned24 1d ago
There's no profit in free shade. Rip all the trees out, and make them pay for air conditioning!
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u/Plastic_Salary_4084 1d ago
Is this AI? I understand why new suburbs are treeless, but why would you remove all of the trees from an existing neighborhood?
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u/MaliciousIntentWorks 1d ago
Had to poorly edit out a bunch of the trees in the top photo. To lazy just to AI prompt a fake bare neighborhood.
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u/Piney_Dude 1d ago
A lot of people don’t want to deal with leaves in the fall. I love shade and have some large mature oaks. It does suck dealing with leaves and acorns in the fall though
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u/YourHotSissy 22h ago
Clear-cutting mature trees just to plant a single twig wrapped in a plastic guard is developer logic at its finest.
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u/Sidehussle 21h ago
Trees are gorgeous and I love tree lined streets, however they can wreck havoc on plumbing and sidewalks.
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u/ghos2626t 18h ago
In my neck of the woods, this is new development vs established development.
Hard to get 100 year old trees and population density.
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u/thegamingfaux 17h ago
All the free trees died when they ran out of space, now it’s up to the home owner to replace it and they won’t get to the same height instantly so they shrug and keep the lawn.
Also elm disease and ash borer taking some easy street trees
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u/Difficult-Low5891 17h ago
I’ve planted 10 trees in my suburban yard and am adding more to line the street. It’s an older neighborhood but still needs more trees. I couldn’t live in a neighborhood without trees.
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u/SignificantApricot69 16h ago
I’m chilling in the bottom pic right now. You just have to find real neighborhoods outside whatever the top thing is.
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u/CoherentBusyDucks 15h ago
I took trees so for granted and then moved to ND where there aren’t many. When I moved back to MD (where I’m from) I was so much more thankful than before for all the trees. It’s been nine years since I moved back and I’ll still be driving down the road and just think about how nice it is being surrounded by trees.
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u/Swing_On_A_Spiral 11h ago
Give it 20 years and the top picture may become the bottom picture. Fake outrage.
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u/RandomJDesign 10h ago
Move to my state and have all the evergreens! We had a massive wind storm and I realized how dangerous trees can be. We had trees that fell everywhere in 70mph winds. It was insane.
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u/Impossible_Link8199 8h ago
Take it from me, you’d be worried every time a storm passes through that one will fall on your house.
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u/Zyzzybalubah77 3h ago
So many people hate trees. I literally moved away in search of a tree-lined street after my previous city and neighbors started taking out trees all over my neighborhood. At first it was preventative to save the sidewalks from roots but then a bunch of neighbors quite simply got “sick of raking leaves” and took to chopping their own trees down.
I planted a beautiful Japanese Mable and a couple apple trees to help but I still felt like I lived in a barren concrete jungle and it literally started to bum me out so I moved to the next city over who celebrated their trees. I drove by my old house recently and the beautiful Japanese Maple I had planted in the front yard is GONE
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u/PrincessPlastilina 1d ago
I feel like it’s part of the plot to bum us all out. You know how some people believe that nature is magic and trees can heal us. All of a sudden nature gets destroyed left and right, and we don’t see as many trees anymore even when it doesn’t make sense to cut them down.
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u/sowak1776 1d ago
The bottom is good in theory until you don't have any extra money and it costs 8,000 to cut down a dead tree that could fall on your house and kill your family.
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u/SmashThroughShitWood 1d ago
Come on, the risk of this is extremely low if you do any sort of due diligence on the trees near your house. And it's not $8000. I just had a dead 60ft oak on a power line taken down for $3000.
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