Man blames ABQ over tree falling

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A tree fell onto his house but the homeowner isn't only blaming the winds; he's blaming the city.

The man claims city workers tinkered with his massive 60-year-old Arizona Cypress during the Lead-Coal Project which caused the tree to fall over during Sunday's winds.

"I heard a thunderous crash on the top of my house and I knew exactly what had happened," said Paul Cohen who lives near Lead and Carlisle.

Chen predicted this dangerous situation over a month before. He contacted the City of Albuquerque and says it was only a matter of time that strong winds like the 70-mile per hour gusts Sunday would tip his teetering tree.

Now, it's on its side and the only thing that prevented it from crashing through his roof was a brick wall.

"February 3rd, when construction crew came through and they just butchered the roots of three quarters of this tree," said Cohen, "we're looking at 10-inch roots that must have extended 20 feet in all directions."

A contractor for the city, Albuquerque Underground Incorporated, has been working on the Lead-Coal Project. They cut the roots of the Arizona Cyrpess, leaving it without much of a foundation.

The city says they warned Cohen before, saying they would remove it because the roots were creeping into the street and they were an obstacle that the workers couldn't avoid.

"That's why we cut the roots that were cut. Those roots were in the right of way, which is city property," said Mark Motsko of the City of Albuquerque's Municipal Development.

Cohen didn't want the tree cut down.

The city says they planned to do all they could to save the tree, but they weren't expecting high wind gusts in the meantime.

"We've gone in, we've built new retaining walls for people. We've built new landscaping for people. It's not like we're going in and ripping out people's stuff and not replacing it," said Motsko.
 
The contractors paid to remove the tree and say it will be replaced with new landscape and new trees.

It left Cohen's brick wall cracked, and his house with minor dents.

Cohen says he has no plan of legal action against the City of Albuquerque or the contractors if they help fix his property.