Downtown Toledo is apparently unsafe for trees.

Dead and dying trees line the streets of the central businesses district. Some have stood dead for more than a year — little more than large, dried sticks with faded orange tags placed by city workers months or even years earlier to mark them for removal.

Lisa Ward, Toledo’s acting commissioner of parks and forestry, said 30 percent of the trees downtown are dead. Some streets are devoid of trees. Several mayors’ administrations have planted trees, only to have them die and need replacement soon after. Salt during winter weather is part of the high mortality rate, but poorly designed tree wells also contribute to the deaths.

“They need to be wider and deeper,” Ms. Ward said of the wells. “Most trees don’t do well when you surround them by cement.”

Ms. Ward said the city is considering wider wells — many have decorative metal coverings, but many of those are broken or badly tarnished. 

A new brine product used in recent years is less harmful to trees, and the city wants to put in hardier species. 

The trees downtown are a mix of honey locust, Bradford pear, Turkish filbert, and ginkgo.

“It doesn’t make sense to put in trees that will die a year or two later,” Ms. Ward said.

City workers took down a near-dead tree this week on Superior Street between Jackson and Adams streets. That left the street with five consecutive empty wells where weeds protruded and litter sat until workers removed both.

Frixos Stylianides, owner of Coney Island Hot Dog, 430 N. Superior St., said the trees that once stood on the street were poorly chosen because their fruit would litter the sidewalks and parked vehicles.

“Put in nice trees, and it’s good for downtown,” Mr. Stylianides said.

About two years ago, the city planted trees that were watered with so-called “gator bags,” which are thick, green plastic bags filled with water to slowly irrigate. Many of those are gone or dead. 

Three-decade-old gnarled crabapples and some pine trees line the Jackson Street median. Those will have to be replaced soon, Ms. Ward said.

In 2012, the city was criticized by downtown residents and business owners after it cut down dozens of hawthorn trees planted in the Summit Street median with plans to install an irrigation system. Scott Kirby, a certified arborist with Davey Tree Service in Toledo, said trees need to be cared for after planting.

“Without pointing fingers and being negative, I would have to look at the manpower,” he said. “Making sure you have water, if we are in a drought like we are now, is important.”

Mr. Kirby said honey locust and ginkgo trees are typically planted by municipalities because they are able to survive in an urban environment.

“Years ago, everyone was planting all ash trees, but then you lost 28 percent of the urban forest because everyone was planting the same thing,” he said.

City workers this week also cleaned the 400 block of North Huron, on the west side of the street next to a parking lot. The city planted dozens of cannas and petunias in the beds and dropped a fresh layer of mulch. That area last year was home to weeds and trash.

The manager of the parking lot and Ms. Ward disagreed last year over who was responsible to maintain raised bed there. The parking lot belongs to Commodore Island Properties, but Lucas County records do not specify whether the landscaping beds fall within the property.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published June 11, 2016, 4:00 a.m.