Matthew Allen lives downstairs.
“I think, for the university, that was just kind of the last straw because they were thinking, ‘Oh, we've trimmed all these trees to try to make it safe.’ And right after that, someone could have gotten really badly hurt and that would have been awful," he said."I get where they're coming from. I do think the measures are a little bit drastic.”
Students like Allen feel like cutting down 250 trees is too many. They were only given 4 days’ notice before removal began. They said they’ve been left out of the decision process and without the trees, they sacrifice its protection from noise pollution, environmental pollutants and sunshade.Leslie Sepuka, Resource Management & Planning/CFO for UCSD responded in a statement that reads:
“A large eucalyptus tree recently fell on one of the housing units in the Mesa Neighborhood. Fortunately no one was hurt, but because the safety of students, faculty and staff at UC San Diego is always of highest concern, the university is removing the eucalyptus trees identified as presenting the most risk. The process is based on the size of the trees and their fall radius. If a tree is tall enough to fall on a building, car or playground, then it will be cut.