The Mercury Tower is a 26-floor office building right next to BTS Phloen Chit that’s currently undergoing renovation. One morning, residents woke up to find that seven 10-meter-tall trees on the sidewalk running along the building had been chopped down. Local resident and activist Oraya Sutabutr, of Big Tree Bangkok, complained to the Pathumwan District Authority that the tower has no rights to cut down these public trees. “There are lots of people using this sidewalk and the trees’ shade protects us from the sun. The building’s management says that cutting trees will make their business and the space better, but they have no right to cut trees on public property, so I complained to the district office,” she told us. In fact, the district office had granted permission for the tower to cut the trees but did ask that they be replaced. “The new trees are much lower, at 3-meters-high with small branches. It just doesn’t compare,” says Oraya.