MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, referring to the McKenzie/McArthur curb project, said the city was going to take out one more tree on the property of the Sam Barone family.

“That one tree was originally listed as a take out,” he said. “But in talking to them, it looked like the tree was far enough away from the curb, that maybe it would be possible to leave that tree. But after doing the work and digging the trench, the Barones noticed there was some damage to the tree roots on the west side, so we asked Brian Wade of Wade & Gatton Nurseries to come down and look at it. He said that in his opinion, there was damage to the root system. After talking to Brian, the Barones agreed to let us take the tree down.”

Mavis said Wade also looked at the tree taken down at East Vine and McKenzie streets.

“Brian Wade identified it as a hackberry tree and identified some infestation in the tree,” he said. “He had identified some damage to the tree even before we took it down.”

Friday morning, forester Harold Bower examined the remains of the tree at McKenzie and East Vine streets.

“Well, it has some spider heart,” Bower said, when he examined the cross section of the tree, which he confirmed as being a hackberry tree, which is related to elm. “That’s not anything terribly serious.”

Bower said spider heart is a condition where extremely small cracks radiate out from a central point, looking like spider legs.

Bower said there was no real indication the tree had any serious problems with it as far as disease or rot, and probably would have outlived him.

The project on McKenzie and McArthur streets is to install new curbs. Part of that required pedestrian ramps to be part of the crossing at the intersection. It was determined by the city that work needed for installation of the ramp would have compromised the root system of the tree.

“What you have here in this case,” Bower said, “is a politician winning out over the common man. They didn’t really have to cut it down because of the tree’s condition. They cut it down because of political gainsay. The tree was really a victim of our social system. People needed to be able to get over the curb, and their needs took precedence over the tree.”

Bower also estimated the age of the tree by counting its rings.

“This is not exact,” he said as he made the count. You need a clean straight cut to do this. But I counted 75 rings.”

Bower said a hackberry tree, when a sapling, can grow for up to 20 years before showing any ring growth. He estimated the tree could be anywhere from 75 to possibly 100 years old.