A giant tree by an iconic Tacoma burger joint was cut down. People are mad. Here’s why

I described the difference as stark. Tom Giske, who lives nearby, had a different word for it.

We were discussing the corner of North L Street and Division in Tacoma, next to Frisko Freeze, where a towering Catalpa tree stood only a few days earlier.

“It’s really hard to withhold the sheer anger you feel when you see something like that,” Giske, 84, said of his reaction last week when the old tree was unceremoniously cut down, exposing an area once covered by green and welcoming shade to the harsh urban elements.

“It’s lost its character,” Giske said of the iconic city corner.

“A better word would be outraged. I was outraged.”

Giske, who moved to the neighborhood five years ago and sits on the North Slope Historic District board of directors, isn’t alone.

Marshall McClintock, a North Slope resident and vocal proponent of historic preservation, shares Giske’s sentiments, he told me by phone last week.

“I was totally surprised. … It’s hard for me to see a reason to take it down,” McClintock said, without mincing words.

“Just wait until it gets hot,” he warned.

Of course, that’s the thing: The debate surrounding Tacoma’s flagging tree canopy is already hot, particularly when it comes to how far the city should go to protect the ones we have left.

In December, the Tacoma City Council approved updates to the city’s tree code, adding new requirements for legally removing trees on the public right of way and creating monetary penalties for people who do so improperly.

The penalties took effect Jan. 1. The rest will become official in June.

In the coming years, the city likely will consider creating regulations governing certain trees on private property, Mike Carey, Tacoma’s urban forest program manager, previously told The News Tribune.

Still, under the city’s old rules or the new ones, this much is certain:

The Catalpa in question — more than 60 feet tall and 100 years old, according to estimates, capable of providing a vast blanket of shade previously taken for granted— was lawfully removed, city staff indicated this week.

That’s the problem, according to Giske, who’s an active member of Tacoma Urban Forest Friends and has long advocated for stronger protections for trees.

The historic tree was cut down by a licensed contractor on Thursday, March 21, according to Frisko Freeze owner John Xitco. Now it’s gone.

Broadly, Carey described the removal of the Catalpa — and other trees like it — as a stark reminder of how essential proactive tree care can be, helping to keep them healthy and tall across the city.

‘The responsible thing to do’

Xitco, a prominent local restaurateur and entrepreneur, purchased Frisko Freeze with his son Nico late last year.

At the time, Xitco told The News Tribune he planned to modernize the classic burger joint while keeping the ambiance and Tacoma charm intact.

Xitco also owns the property next door, home to a Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital nutrition services clinic, he told me. He purchased both properties last year, according to county property records. The old Catalpa straddles the two parcels.

This week, Xitco said he quickly came to the realization that the tree so many people loved — sought after by employees for mid-shift breaks and as an alternative to the searing blacktop by customers — had the potential to cause him major headaches.

The decision to have the tree removed wasn’t easy, Xitco said, but he described it as “the responsible thing to do.”

Recently, an assessment performed by a certified arborist discovered dry rot throughout the century-old Catalpa, Xitco said. The dry rot was particularly advanced toward the top of the tree and in its limbs, he indicated.

A “major gas line” runs right under its roots, Xitco told The News Tribune.

A report he submitted during Tacoma’s tree-removal permitting process backs up Xitco’s contentions.

City of Tacoma spokesperson Maria Lee confirmed a permit was issued for the tree’s removal on March 18.

“When it comes to people’s concerns, I feel it. … We want to be as proud as anyone else in what we do,” Xitco told The News Tribune.

“But we didn’t do this with ill intention,” he added.

“When you’ve got something to lose financially — and you’ve got a situation that could cause liability or hurt or kill a human being — then you need to be responsible about it.”

Giant stump serves as a warning

Xitco said he loves trees. Like a lot of Pacific Northwesterners, he considers himself a tree person.

Still, business is business, Xitco told me.

In his mind, removing the giant Catalpa that helped to define the Frisko Freeze experience came down to dollars and common sense.

“Being a commercial place, if someone slips and falls or gets hurt on your property, you’re open to a lawsuit,” Xitco said. “Taking it down was definitely a good call.”

According to Tim Olsen, a lifelong Tacoma resident and local tree advocate, the sudden removal of a beloved, century-old Catalpa is tough to stomach for several reasons, regardless of the evidence cited by Xitco.

By nature, Olsen is skeptical of the dire prognosis offered by the certified arborist tasked with assessing the health of the historic North Slope tree, he said, including the push to cut it down, particularly given Tacoma’s ongoing effort to increase the city’s tree canopy, which pales in comparison to other cities across the region.

Last week, Olsen said the giant stump that now marks the corner of North L Street and Division should serve as a warning.

Until Tacoma gets serious about preserving the trees that it has, planting new saplings will make little difference, he said.

Olsen would like to see Tacoma catch up to neighboring jurisdictions, where elected leaders have taken steps in recent years to enact tougher regulations and protections.

Giske would like to see a temporary moratorium on the removal of old trees until the matter is settled.

Both men stand in agreement on one key point: If Tacoma actually cares about its trees, something has to change.

“You’d be shocked by how many new trees it would take to replace the canopy that was lost by cutting this one down,” Olsen told The News Tribune.

“It would be dozens. The math is just prohibitive,” he said.

“You’d have to plant a whole neighborhood to replace what we had.”