City tree planting program in Columbus flat out lied about species

Signed up for their curb tree program and they promised a serviceberry. Three months later a guy showed up and planted a silver maple right in front of my house. I called them out on it and they said 'we substitute based on availability.' Now I've got a tree that'll wreck my sidewalk in 10 years. Anybody else get bait and switched by these city programs?

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barbara_butler5d ago

Silver maples are actually worse than you think for sidewalks lol. Their roots don't just go deep, they spread out wide right under the surface. My buddy had one planted by the city years ago and now his whole front walk is cracked to hell. Serviceberries are way smaller and have nicer roots, so I get why you're pissed. The city probably had a bunch of silver maples leftover from some other project and just dumped them on people. You might be able to request a removal and replant if you complain enough to your council person, but it's a hassle. At least you caught it early, some people don't notice until the roots are already messing things up.