Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. Five people out of 21 million is nothing. Sure, every death is tragic, but there are a lot more efficient ways to spend time and money preventing deaths than tree trimming.

Five deaths in the Bay Area from one storm, two in San Francisco (with a population around 800,000). There were other tree related deaths last year. More to the point, the trees that the city is actively removing are old, mature ficus trees that present a variety of risks (e.g. sidewalks, sewer and other underground utilities), overhead (e.g. public transit) wires.

Too bad ficus are easily the densest canopy tree I’ve seen in california

On the other hand, trees cool down the area so having lot of them should lead to fewer heat-strokes. Last week we hit 95F in my area and I wouldn't be able to walk my dog if not for the trees.

Is not an easy decision. Politicians can be sued if a branch falls over somebody, but can get rid easily of the ten thousands of kills a year by contamination on air and water. Of course somebody being crushed by a tree is a real tragedy, but if the same people would have a heart attack because nitrogen emissions are out of the charts, or they get ill by asthma and can't work, would not reach the news.

An interesting question is: Have people trees because is rich, or they are richer because they had trees? (and this will save a lot of money each year on energy bills, food and even psychologists). Trees are a tool to fight poverty. The problem is how to made the poor people respect them.