John Cloud is seconds from losing it. The doublespeak he’s getting from John Thomas, head of the Urban Forestry Administration at the D.C. Department of Transportation, is the kind that makes citizens crazy.

The Kalorama resident recently learned that two heritage oak trees were chopped down by the UFA in his neighborhood park at Columbia Road and 19th Street NW. Standing in the rain, he is demanding Thomas and his arborist explain their actions.