In a battle of planting versus paving, City Council voted narrowly in favor of spending $109,000 on new trees yesterday.

The money, from the federal Community Development Block Grant program, can only be spent in low-income neighborhoods. It will allow the city to plant "a couple of hundred trees," said city forester David Jahn.

Prior to the vote, the city had no money to plant trees, he said.

Even with the allocation, the city's tree-planting budget will be "comparable to cities one-third our size," said Councilman William Peduto, who voted for the spending.

Councilman Luke Ravenstahl countered that the money was needed to repair streets and bridges, and that new trees would "increase the liabilities of the city" which is struggling to maintain the trees it has.