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I've only cut down a few obviously-dead Aspens when I moved into my current house, and nobody threw a fit about it. Guess I'm lucky. That said, I live in the Front Range, where trees are a precious commodity, so if I randomly started cutting those in my yard down, I'd fully expect to garner hell from the neighbors.
This is exactly whats going on. People like San Fran above think they should be able to tell me what to do with things on my property regardless of the fact that they dont have to deal with the maintenance. Pay for tree trimming annually? Are you nuts? The tree companies charge just as much to trim a tree as they do to remove it around here because they still have to come out to the site, pay labor, climb the trees, etc. As I mentioned the trees were leaning and there was no growth on one side, so trimming those limbs would have left a stump of a tree. They were better off being removed and replaced with trees that take up less space but provide just as much shade. Live Oaks werent meant to be placed in the 20 foot gap between two houses.....they get MASSIVE.
This is another good point. We were talking to one set of neighbors who lost a good percentage of two really old trees in the front of their property and decided that they wanted to top them (which looks awful). I suggested they just take them out and plant new trees (that is what we did with the ones we took out, as well as adding 2 new trees). I pointed out that in our area, almost all the trees are around 80-100 years old in the neighborhood, and they are sickening and getting old. They will all die around the same time, perhaps in a big storm, and then for 10-30 years we'll be left with no nice trees for the most part. Planting new trees now means that we'll have a nice mix and a good start on a new green space when we lose the old trees.
A former landlord of my brother got a lot of grief from some of the neighbors, get this, cutting down a DEAD tree. So dead, the bark was falling off of it dead. Not a sign of life anywhere on this old dead tree. But some old lady thought it should have been left and complained about it to my brother and some random city employee that happened by. She wasn't the only one according to the landlord. Some people have entirely too much free time.
You think most people would be happy he was taking down a dead tree that would have fallen on something. My brother was of the opinion he waited too long to take it down.....
I think my neighbors threw me a party when I took down my trees.
I bought a house that was severely overgrown. 15,000 SQ feet (minus the house) with EIGHT large maples on the property...in very bad spots. In terms of growth, they were prob at the MAX a maple can possibly get. Three were overhanging the house, one was leaning towards a neighbors house, and two had evidence of disease/rot and all had surface roots that were popping up the driveway patio, or causing issues elsewhere. These trees were LARGE, and during the winter, when winds were bad, I seriously debated taking the kids and going somewhere just in case one of the trees came down in the house. After a heavy wet snow, a couple large limbs came down randomly in the yard in areas my kids play in. That pretty much made the decision for me.
Neighbors chimed in that they "should have come down years ago" and agreed it was a good move. Nobody gave me grief...except the original owners who occasional strolled through the neighborhood.
I've begun replanting a few trees. Japanese maples, dogwood, and maybe a big shade tree for the backyard like a red maple. I don't hate trees...but I also don't want to deal with LARGE trees that drop limbs every time it's windy or snows heavy either. I have toddlers who would be playing under these trees.
I just watched as the new neighbors across the street took down a huge maple in their front yard. I'll admit it did not make a great first impression.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so maybe the tree was doomed or causing some serious damage to the property that I couldn't see, but it was quite far from their house.
Trees in residential neighborhoods transcend property lines. A neighborhood full of large healthy trees is nicer to come home to, resale values are higher, the air is cleaner. Everyone benefits from trees, and when one is taken down it is like it has been stolen from the community.
Sure, it's your property and your responsibility, but that only means so much in a community. Part of the social contract is we all put in just a little effort for the greater good. We pay taxes to maintain our roads and educate our children, we worry about and perhaps dig out the elderly neighbors in a snowstorm (up here in the Northeast anyway!), we keep our lawns mowed like everyone else even if we don't really think lawns are a wise use of natural resources.
I know you didn't come on here to receive extra flack for your tree removal, so no flack intended. I'm just trying to articulate why your neighbors - and so many other commenters - feel a sense of loss about such a silly thing as a tree. It's good you're planning to plant more.
I can see both sides; I've also dealt with the tree/neighbor issue also.
Owning a couple hundred acres I have my share of various neighbors and I'm on good terms with them. They know they can hunt small game on my land, walk my land, ride their horses/atv's as long as they're respectful. I don't care. NO loud exhausts or deer hunting though.
That said, it amazes me how some people will throw a neighbor relationship away over something so petty. And I play back ten fold.
Neighbor about a half mile away had a branch of a giant oak come down and rip the power cable off his house. This giant oak appeared to be in his yard but was really on my land. He just mowed about 15ft onto my land so it looked like it was part of his yard (yes I'm aware of the legalities against me on this on claiming domain. Believe me, I counted the years ). Power company comes out and hangs his pole-to-house cable back up and tells him to call an electrician to re-nail his cable down the side of his house (he never lost power). Why a capable 40yo can't do this himself, I have no idea. Anyways, he gives me a bill for $140 thinking I should pay the electrician for my faulty tree and re-nailing his cable. Woooooweee...NOT the thing to do. I chainsawed up and had that tree down within the hour. While the wood is worth a thousand, I'm content on just letting it lay there. Been laying there for years now.
In all honesty, if my tree comes down on my neighbor's house, it is not my fault. However, if said neighbor explicitly declares my tree a danger beforehand, then it is my fault. The way I know the law around here anyways. Too much grey area for me to take that risk once mouths are opened.
Last year My neighbor removed branches of my tree that was giving me the privacy not seeing his house. It was hanging over on his side so I couldn't give him any flack for it. Just yesterday he planted a nice 8' Sand Cherry Tree. I now like him again.
Then again, it will block the East sun coming to my Vegetable garden. Ugh.
We had a nearby intersection just off the highway that had a very large tree near the road. The base was rotten and had a hole at ground level. I always gave it the eyeball and never liked driving past it because I knew one day it was going to topple over in the wind and kill someone or at least snarl traffic. They finally cut it down. It was a big old tree but was compromised and a danger. Another case on the other end of the spectrum was somebody who owns a kennel and dog boarding place nearby. It was a beautiful old converted barn off the same highway with several old trees on the property. Oaks and sycamores. I randomly met and spoke to the owner a decade ago and he told me how he inherited it from his very elderly aunt and was glad to finally be able to run the business his way. He was an oddball. I noticed they cut down those trees and had the wood piled up for firewood. I can't see how reducing the value of your property significantly would offset free firewood. The kicker was he put up a big sign offering to sell wood mulch. What a dingus. Like anybody would buy mulch he had piled up. Like I said he was an oddball.
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). Power company comes out and hangs his pole-to-house cable back up and tells him to call an electrician to re-nail his cable down the side of his house (he never lost power). Why a capable 40yo can't do this himself, I have no idea. Anyways, he gives me a bill for $140 thinking I should pay the electrician for my faulty tree and re-nailing his cable. Woooooweee...NOT the thing to do. I chainsawed up and had that tree down within the hour. While the wood is worth a thousand, I'm content on just letting it lay there. Been laying there for years now. 
