Like many in the area, he had grown used to the trees, and he believed the vandalism was not carried out by someone who was against them being placed on the street, but rather "just some hoons after a night out".
The $48,000 project, sparked by the council wanting to "soften" the semi-industrial look of the street, drew some controversy when the specially built macrocarpa tree pots and 3-metre trees were set in place at 100m intervals.
Facebook comments were aimed at the pots taking parking spaces, as well as creating a potential hazard for motorists.
Both were scotched by council planning manager Alistair Thompson, who said only a dozen parking spaces along the whole street were affected and the pots were no more of a hazard than any car parked there.
Council reserves asset manager Tony Billing was left shaking his head yesterday. "It is a depressing thing to see."
He agreed with Mr Wilson and suspected it was simply "wilful vandalism" likely to have been fuelled by too much alcohol, rather than someone not liking the trees being there.
"We suffer a lot of vandalism to trees around the city.
"We spend a lot of time trying to do something aesthetically pleasing and this sort of thing happens."
Mr Billing said the trees were very strong and it would have taken a lot of effort, and probably some time, to snap one off.
He appealed for anyone seeing any suspicious activity or vandalism taking place to call police straight away.
The tree would be replaced.
