Letter to the Editor: I'd rather have a street light than a tree

Dear Editor:

We live in Downey and just received a notice that we are getting a tree. Well that's great, but what about a street light since our streets are so dark.

Let's prevent crime from happening since it's so dark. I’d rather pay extra taxes on street lights than a tree that will not be watered when we have a drought. The city of Downey has not thought this out.

We do not need any more trees since most of the trees in Downey that are located on Lakewood Boulevard have broken the cement, overgrown and are useless. The lights that were placed on Lakewood were to light up the street, but these trees have overtaken the street and caused more work for city workers since they have cracked the cement.

I realized that someone has already written something about this and is also opposed to this. Why does the city do these things without asking residents? Not everyone has the time or availability to go to every City Council meeting. We all have different lives, jobs, children, and elderly to care for.

When is this suppose to happen? There no date or time given when this is suppose to occur. Also, I would like to advise the City of Downey that the people who delivered these flyers just threw them on the floor like trash. They were just on the floor or on the shrubs. Why didn't the City of Downey send letters to each property owner/resident who it would effect? This way we could have participated in the voting.

Really is the City of Downey doing whatever they want? Aren't we already having this being done from other government agencies?

Maria Romero Contreras
Downey