Wilkinsburg residents outraged after Duquesne Light cuts down neighborhood trees without warning

WILKINSBURG, Pa. — Neighbors on East End Avenue in Wilkinsburg are outraged by the surprise chopping of their neighborhood trees.

“Part of the beauty of this neighborhood and so many Pittsburgh neighborhoods is the trees,” said Ron Witkosky, who owns a home on the block.

“It’s kind of like when something terrible happens in the world and you go to bed and you sleep in the night and then you wake up in the morning, greet the day, and remember that this terrible thing has happened,” said Lynne Feinberg, whose home is directly in front of the trees. “That’s how it feels to me right now.”

Some neighbors were sent an email last week from Duquesne Light Company about trimming happening near Whitney and East End avenues. But days later, neighbors were shocked when they found 75-year-old oak trees completely torn down and left on their sidewalks.

“I don’t know if they plan on getting rid of this, but it’s certainly not my onus to get rid of it,” said Witkosky.

“I screamed. I screamed,” said Feinberg. “I yelled an obscenity. A nice fellow came over to reassure me that, ‘Gee, they just had to do it,’ but that’s not true.”

Duquesne Light provided Channel 11 with this statement:

“DLC is committed to providing reliable, resilient service to our customers. Falling trees and vegetation are a leading cause of power interruptions in our service territory, making routine vegetation management crucial to maintaining safe and reliable service.

“DLC worked closely with borough leadership throughout the process and will continue to do so to ensure transparency and collaboration. Initially, residents were informed that the trees in question would be pruned. However, after further evaluation by our experts and with the borough’s approval, it was determined that full removal of the trees was necessary for public safety and to protect DLC equipment.

“We understand residents’ frustration with the trees’ removal, but this decision was made to prevent possible impacts to energy service in the future. We acknowledge the missed opportunity to update residents about the change and will review our process to better keep our customers informed.”

“I feel like this was a test,” said Witkosky. “This was a test to see if they could get away with this, because if Duquesne Light could have their way, they’d cut every tree down.”

“I was told by the guy from the company that contracts with Duquesne Light to cut the trees that they expected to be cutting down 10 more, and I want to stop that,” said Feinberg.

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