Joe wrote:
My neighbor has had a dead tree in the back of his property for about
a year, last night the wind finally broke the trunk and it fell a
little toward my yard but was stopped by a large oak tree on my
property. I'm worried that it might break apart and fall when my
children are playing in the yard. I need this tree to come down and
I'm worried that my neighbor won't do it. They have a habit of only
doing the kind of maintenance that is absolutely necessary. How do I
approach them to make sure they take care of this problem? I'm on
good terms with this neighbor and I'd like to take care of this in the
most tactful way possible but I get the feeling they are going to tell
me that if I want the tree down I'm going to have to pay for it
myself.

I'd be in favor of waiting a week to see if they take care of it. That
is sufficient consideration for a "good neighbor". If it is still
leaning then, call your code enforcement authority - the tree has been a
hazard for a year (proven by the fact that it came down) and good
neighbors, even stupid ones, don't leave hazards in place.

A few weeks ago, a palm tree in our condo property came down on a very
windy day. Some palms are eaten up by termites, as was the case with
this one. The trunk broke about six feet from the ground and the sound
it made was amazing - thought at first it was a sonic boom because the
shuttle was about to land.