91-Year-Old Woman's Plea to Save Tree Gets Mayor's Attention

SAN DIEGO, CA: A tree in Allied Gardens that a 91-year-old woman has been fighting to save is getting at least a temporary reprieve, the mayor's office announced Monday.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer met with Marie Ostwald and told her that a second arborist will be tasked with determining whether the tree at the corner of Mission Gorge Road and Greenbrier Avenue is safe or needs to be removed.

Ostwald posted on Facebook that she and her late husband planted the tree in 1957 and it's all she has left of him. Her post was subsequently shared more than 2,300 times.

"As a mother, I nursed it and I helped it to grow from a seedling to sprout," Ostwald wrote. "As the years went by, our family grew and so did she. All the neighborhood kids grew up playing within her shade."

She called the tree "a beautiful majestic living thing that has grown old alongside me" and asked for it to remain as long as she's alive. She said she just needs a couple of more years.

"We heard you Mrs. Ostwald. Happy Mother's Day," Faulconer said.

City officials said the tree's roots were cracking the adjacent sidewalk, and some of its root system was cut away to make repairs, bringing doubts as to its stability.

City News Service