In August the Grand Concourse runs hot, and the London planes over the courtyards are doing the real air conditioning. M&M Tree Removal Corp works to keep that shade alive — thinning a crown grown too heavy for its own trunk, clearing the deadwood that lets go on still afternoons, removing only the trees that are past keeping. Around Fordham and Mount Hope the yards are narrow strips between buildings, so a removal is mostly rigging: lower it, carry it, load it, leave nothing on the steps. When a storm rolls up the Harlem River valley and shears a limb, the cleanup moves fast, because the block cannot spare the sidewalk. By evening the courtyard is quiet again, cooler than the street, with one less thing overhead to worry about.