Residents’ Opinions on the Value of Street Trees Depending on Tree Location

James Gorman

doi:10.48044/jauf.2004.005

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Table 1.

Socio-demographic distribution of State College, Pennsylvania, respondents.

Characteristics	Number^z	Percentage^y
Gender
Male	318	47.5
Female	351	52.5
Total	669
Age
19–25	16	2.4
26–35	74	11.0
36–45	126	18.7
46–55	150	22.2
56–65	101	15.0
66–75	116	17.2
76 and over	92	13.6
Total	675
Ownership
Own	560	83.5
Rent	107	15.9
Other	4	0.6
Total	671
Building type
House	567	84.8
Apartment	66	9.9
Condominium	23	3.4
Other	13	1.9
Total	669
Length of occupancy
Less than 1 year	30	4.5
1–3 years	134	20.0
4–10 years	149	22.3
More than 10 years	355	53.1
Total	668
Education
Grade school	3	0.4
High school	57	8.4
Business/trade school	40	5.9
College degree	176	26.1
Post-graduate	399	59.1
Total	675

↵^zSome questions were left unanswered on questionnaires; hence, not all totals are equal to 676.
↵^yNumbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

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Table 2.

Evaluation of positive features of street trees in State College, Pennsylvania, comparing tree vs. no tree in front of residence (independent samples t-test).

Tree planted directly in front of house	Number^z	Mean	t-test	p^y
Give shade
Yes	567	2.50	3.105	.002*
No	106	2.18
Pleasing to the eye
Yes	565	2.86	2.126	.036*
No	103	2.70
Flowers on tree
Yes	550	1.20	−4.274	.000*
No	103	1.75
Fall color
Yes	562	2.53	−0.414	.679
No	106	2.57
Neighborhood more livable
Yes	560	2.75	2.723	.007*
No	105	2.51
Reduce noise
Yes	548	1.93	0.378	.706
No	102	1.89
Cool building in summer
Yes	559	1.90	0.483	.629
No	104	1.85
Increase privacy
Yes	563	1.85	−0.978	.328
No	104	1.96
Improve environment
Yes	560	2.73	1.474	.143
No	105	2.61
Attract birds
Yes	563	2.22	0.476	.634
No	105	2.17
Increase property value
Yes	548	2.31	3.136	.002*
No	102	2.00

↵^zSome questions were left unanswered on questionnaires; hence, not all totals are equal to 676.
↵^yAn asterisk indicates statistically significant at the .05 level.

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Table 3.

Evaluation of negative features of street trees in State College, Pennsylvania, comparing tree vs. no tree in front of residence (independent samples t-test).

Tree planted directly in front of house	Number^z	Mean	t-test	p^y
Attract animal problems
Yes	555	0.58	−0.499	.618
No	105	0.62
Insects/diseases in tree
Yes	556	0.81	−1.422	.156
No	105	0.93
Branches break power lines in storms
Yes	561	0.85	−2.112	.037*
No	105	1.08
Sidewalk damaged
Yes	565	1.23	2.506	.012*
No	105	0.95
Branches fall
Yes	558	1.03	0.632	.528
No	105	0.98
Leaves fall
Yes	558	1.22	1.178	.239
No	105	1.10
Flowers/seeds fall
Yes	555	0.99	1.163	.245
No	102	0.87
Block the sun
Yes	560	0.63	−0.681	.496
No	104	0.68
Darken street at night
Yes	557	0.60	−0.342	.733
No	105	0.63
Cause allergies
Yes	555	0.59	−1.306	.192
No	103	0.70
Block visibility
Yes	556	0.48	−3.209	.002*
No	105	0.77

↵^zSome questions were left unanswered on questionnaires; hence, not all totals are equal to 676.
↵^yAn asterisk indicates statistically significant at the .05 level.

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Table 4.

Importance of street trees to residents of State College, Pennsylvania.

Response	Tree planted in front of house	No tree planted in front of house	Total responses
Of great importance
Number	515	91	606
Percentage	92.8	85.8	91.6
Of moderate importance
Number	38	12	50
Percentage	6.8	11.3	7.6
Not important
Number	2	3	5
Percentage	0.4	2.8	.8
Total number	555	106	661^z
Percentage	100.0	100.0	100.0

Chi-square = 10.000
Df = 2
Significance = .007 (at the .05 level)
↵^zSome questions were left unanswered on questionnaires; hence, not all totals are equal to 676.

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Table 5.

Willingness to volunteer with help maintaining street trees in State College, Pennsylvania.

Response	Tree planted in front of house	No tree planted in front of house	Total responses
Yes
Number	343	59	402
Percentage	62.3	57.8	61.6
No
Number	208	43	251
Percentage	37.7	42.2	38.4
Total number	551	102	653^z
Percentage	100.0	100.0	100.0

Chi-square = .707
Df = 1
Significance = .401 (at the .05 level)
↵^zSome questions were left unanswered on questionnaires; hence, not all totals are equal to 676.

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Table 6.

Willingness of State College, Pennsylvania, residents to contribute money to care for street trees.

Response	Tree planted in front of house	No tree planted in front of house	Total responses
Yes
Number	203	35	238
Percentage	37.0	33.3	36.4
No
Number	254	41	295
Percentage	46.4	39.0	45.2
No opinion
Number	91	29	120
Percentage	16.6	27.6	18.4
Total number	548	105	653^z
Percentage	100.0	100.0	100.0

Chi-square = 7.625
Df = 1
Significance = .054 (at the .05 level)
↵^zSome questions were left unanswered on questionnaires; hence, not all totals are equal to 676.