Quad City Food Forest trees vandalized; city terminates license to use park space | Politics and elections

“He pruned every single fruit tree, cut down all of apples, pears, plums and peaches,” Domino-Keenan said. “Neighbors talked to him and attempted to stop him, but he continued over three blocks, cutting all of the food-bearing plants. More than 30 trees have been completely ruined. We do not know if they will survive during the spring. … All of the blossom blooms, all of the branches where the fruit would grow, was cut off.”

Domino-Keenan on Friday said it was not clear what the neighbor’s motivations were for cutting down the fruit trees and bushes, which are intended for public consumption, and has been unable to contact him.

“We don’t know why this happened,” she said, adding mental health issues may have played a role and asked local support services to reach out to him and complete a home wellness check.

“At this point, all that we can do is try to gather more support and continue this work elsewhere,” Domino-Keenan said. “This is in the city and the alderman’s jurisdiction at this point.”

Earlier this month the city of Davenport terminated its license agreement with the Quad City Food Forest to use space within Blackhawk Garden Park, located in Davenport’s Garden Addition.

City officials say the nonprofit group of volunteers, dedicated to designing, growing and maintaining edible landscapes for the purposes of providing free, healthy food for the community, failed to meet a deadline to secure liability insurance required under the license agreement.