Where this was said
Sarah Bond's Dream Home — and the Leaning Tree
At 3:31 · chapter starts 0:14
After surviving a brutal, competitive 2021 housing market in Portland, Sarah Bond and her husband Joel finally land a house on a tree-lined street in Southwest Portland — a neighborhood where kids roll down hills and the air feels like magic. [1] — Jeff Guo "When Sarah Bond applied to remove a 100-foot Douglas fir leaning toward her house, Portland denied the permit — citing the tree's health an…" 02:30 Sarah, a former garden-center worker, loves the lush yard. But within weeks she notices something alarming: a 100-foot Douglas fir in the backyard is growing at a strange angle, leaning directly toward the house. So big she can't even see its crown from below, the tree triggers an immediate, visceral fear. 'This tree wasn't gonna just put a hole in our roof,' she says. 'It was gonna fall and we'd be lucky to walk away.' The setup is efficient and gripping — a dream realized, and immediately shadowed.
When Sarah Bond applied to remove a 100-foot Douglas fir leaning toward her house, Portland denied the permit — citing the tree's health and its contribution to 'neighborhood character.' The family was stuck living in fear of a tree they technically owned but couldn't touch.
In recent years, hundreds of towns and cities across the U.S. have passed tree-protection ordinances covering places from Dallas to Denver to Mobile, Alabama.
In recent years, hundreds of U.S. towns and cities have passed laws requiring permits to remove large trees — even on private property. The laws exist because trees provide air quality, flood control, and cooling benefits to entire neighborhoods, not just individual homeowners.
