The emerald ash borer has been killing ash trees in Minneapolis since it was discovered a decade ago, and low-income homeowners have been hit with huge fees to have their trees removed.
Now, thanks to a $500,000 grant, some of those homeowners will be able to get some relief, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Three-quarters of the grant will be used to cover the costs of assessments for trees removed between October 2022 and October 2023 on 169 homesteads in north Minneapolis and two neighborhoods.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, which accepted the grant, has heard from community members that the assessments have an inequitable effect on property owners in disadvantaged areas.
People in those areas have fought for assistance, including retroactive aid.
The new funds follow $8 million awarded to the city several months ago by the US Forest Service to remove trees on private property infested with emerald ash borer, which also focused on easing the burden on low-income property owners.
The Park Board plans to use another quarter of the funds to clear any private property tree removal assessments that become pending between Nov.
1 and the still unknown date that the Forest Service grant assistance starts.
"I live with a fixed income of very little on Social Security retirement money," 73-year-old Amoke Kubat tells
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