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I was heartened to read Dr. Marla Lowenthal’s “A good result” letter to the editor on Nov. 9, in which she praises City of San Mateo’s Managing Arborist Mathew Fried, in the Department of Parks and Recreation.

A city’s arborist helps protect the city’s tree canopy. Trees remove pollutants from our environment, and release water vapor that cools the surrounding areas, mitigating the urban heat island effect.

Mr. Fried has demonstrated that skill in our North Central neighborhood, where insufficient parking leads to residents wanting to remove street trees to accommodate paving for parking on their front yards.

As was done at Woodlake condominiums, Mr. Fried denies such tree removal requests for healthy trees, helping preserve neighborhood quality of life.

The tree division of the City of San Mateo’s Parks and Recreation Department is also responsible for responding to resident concerns about trees in public spaces, as, per their website at CityofSanMateo.org/562/trees.

Staff for the tree division has confirmed that, if you’re concerned with lower branches of a street tree blocking that important stop sign in your city of San Mateo neighborhood, you can call the tree division at (650) 522-7420.

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Doug Handerson

San Mateo