06/08/2026
Good morning from Friends of Mobile Trees. Today begins, not ends our response to the illegal massacre of a beautiful line of oak trees on Michigan Avenue. The central issue is not whether this destruction was necessary. That’s secondary. The central issue is that it was done illegally by MANY active participants in City government working together as a team. FOMT will not relent until we have a formal written statement, not from a spokesperson, but from Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis that this illegal activity he leads will cease. Otherwise, next week, FOMT will formally request Attorney General Marshall to do his job and review and remediate the City of Mobile’s deliberate failure to respect and follow Alabama law, the Mobile Tree Act.
When State Representative Chris Pringle wrote a revision of the Mobile Tree Act in 2015, most everyone saw the wisdom of protecting our heritage trees from unnecessary destruction. Balancing the healthy desire for economic growth with our urban forest’s healthy growth, this state law requires that requests to remove trees from the public right of way must be first approved by the Tree Commissioners appointed by our City Council. The only exception is the mayor has discretion to override in cases where public safety is at risk such as damage after a storm or a dangling tree limb. Penalties for deliberately violating this law are steep including potential prison time.
This is NOT an isolated, one-off event. In coming days, we will unpack in depth EACH individual agency directly involved in this criminal enterprise. During the Stimpson Administration, oak trees on Bienville Square were taken out with no notice or discussion. Mayor Stimpson said it wouldn’t happen again. Then, later he took out more live oaks on Broad Street as part of a redesign that, ironically enough, included bike paths bikers out in the broiling semi-tropical sun. Again, Stimpson apologized. Now we have the Michigan Avenue and Mayor Cheriogotis’s spokesperson writes that they were not "aware."
We’re going to start unpacking this statement with Lagniappe’s slow-walked new story that hit very quietly at 7:30 AM Sunday Morning on-line and available only to paid subscribers. Its only by this newspaper talking with its former managing editor, that anyone connected with the Mayor would go on record. In other words, the only way to know what your Mayor did on Michigan Avenue is to subscribe to Lagniappe. What did he say about deliberately violating state law?
The Mayor’s spokesperson Dale Liesch stated “As soon as the City was made aware that the normal process was not followed, we began looking into how that happened.” Yet, when this same exact scenario played out before, there was a huge public outcry each time. Now we're told the Mayor, his aides, his attorneys, Public Work professionals, urban forestry professionals and tree commissioners ALL were not “aware” of what the law requires.
Mayor Cheriogotis’s spokesperson then writes that he wants “processes in place to trigger a more robust public outreach.” Mayor Cheriogotis, we already have a process in place: the Mobile Tree Act!” If you want a new process, lobby the legislature to change state law to allow you to cut trees anytime you want for any reason. Until then, follow state law!
This public statement that the Cheriogotis Administration didn’t know they were deliberately breaking Alabama law is outrageous and totally out of control. If it was such a great idea to take out these trees, why not follow the law before doing it.
As part of our stated mission to speak for the trees, we will have more to say in the days to come about other participants in this criminal enterprise. We heard so much lip service from candidate Cheriogotis about being "laser-focused" on fighting crime. How about practicing what you preach.
JOHN
For the FOMT Board
John Robb, President
