PITTSBURGH — An 82-year-old woman could lose her home if she can’t pay to have a massive, 200-year-old sycamore tree removed from her front yard. It has already crushed her sewer line and is threatening to do the same to her neighbors on both sides.
“We love the tree - it’s beautiful, but very dangerous, and it’s only going to get worse,” Emma Johnson Byas said.
The sycamore, which stands 6 feet tall, is Pittsburgh history. It stands on the property that was once the Negleys’ right off North Negley Avenue in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood.
The tree’s decades-old roots are lifting slabs of concrete out of the ground and have left Byas without a working sewer line since January.
“I don’t use my shower, I can’t use my dishwasher, I can’t use my washer and dryer,” Byas tells Channel 11. “So I’m back to basics. Washing up in the bowl sink. Handwashing dishes.”
It’s also creating a potentially deadly risk.
“It’s poised to fall across Negley Avenue, and this is a major intersection,” Byas said. “I can’t tell you how many cars come through here each day. God forbid it should fall and kill someone.”
The problem is it’s an astronomical bill to have the sewer line repaired, the tree removed, and the 13-foot hole filled in.
“The first estimate is $20,000,” Byas tells Channel 11. “Now it’s up to $23,000 just for the plumbing - the tree is another $15,000. I’m on a fixed income. I have to raise the funds to do this because I just don’t have the means to.”
Neighbors reached out to Channel 11, hoping to get help for Byas, who they say is always there for others.
“We are so lucky because she’s a fabulous neighbor,” Sarah Linder Marx tells Channel 11. “Always there for us from the day we moved in, and we’re so blessed to have such wonderful neighbors. Hopefully, just as a community, we can come together and make sure everyone’s safe and that her property is as safe and easy to manage as possible.”
If you want to help Emma Johnson Byas, you can find a link to her GoFundMe here.
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