>> Our sidewalk is sunnier than it was. Our Bradford pear has been cut down. <<
It may have been cut down for being a Bradford pear. They are pretty in bloom, but have nearly no wildlife value and brittle wood with an alarming tendency to shed branches or even cleave apart due to wind or ice. O_O Someone actually wrote a song, "Kill Your Local Bradford Pear."
>> The city never called me back about whether a new tree would be planted in the square of mulch currently hosting a knee-high stump <<
If they never get back to you, just stick tree seeds in the soil there until something sprouts. In most places, the most valuable native tree will be some species of oak. Also good are maple, plum/cherry, or for wet areas birch.
Do watch the stump: pears sometimes send up suckers from their roots. Keep removing those until they quit coming up.
Thoughts
It may have been cut down for being a Bradford pear. They are pretty in bloom, but have nearly no wildlife value and brittle wood with an alarming tendency to shed branches or even cleave apart due to wind or ice. O_O Someone actually wrote a song, "Kill Your Local Bradford Pear."
>> The city never called me back about whether a new tree would be planted in the square of mulch currently hosting a knee-high stump <<
If they never get back to you, just stick tree seeds in the soil there until something sprouts. In most places, the most valuable native tree will be some species of oak. Also good are maple, plum/cherry, or for wet areas birch.
Do watch the stump: pears sometimes send up suckers from their roots. Keep removing those until they quit coming up.