He cut it down without communicating with the neighbours at all
They could have found a better solution but instead he decided to be arrogant and use his “solution” instead of working with the neighbours to find a better solution
I have linked the article in another comment of mine
Old guy does job. Municipality don’t see the problem. Municipality don’t budget with the cost of getting the job done. Old guy stops doing it for whatever reason. Job doesn’t get done. Municipality can’t find money to do it in their budget. Job doesn’t get done.