Personal vs Real Property

[tamhas]

A neighbor who owns vacant lots has sued us for pruning trees that were obstructing the street. We are doing a survey and it is clear that the trees are in a street right of way and thus we should be OK on his suit as my understanding is that he has no ownership rights in trees in the street right of way. They City could complain, but not him. However, we now discover that about 6' of our front patio, fencing, walkways, planters, etc. are also in the street right of way and have been for 50 years. We are concerned about this neighbor retaliating. He's the kind of guy who wouldn't be afraid to do just about anything. Last year he dug a 4' deep excavation within 1' of the pavement as a way to keep people from using a 105 year old path that crosses his land. Crazy. The planters and such that are moveable and which we have placed in front of and behind the fence we believe should be considered personal property so we could sue for damage to them, but what about a tree in a brick & mortar planter? What about fencing? Is any tree or plant in the ground at risk, even if we planted it? Would an encroachment permit influence this? What about trespass, i.e., do we have a right to keep people out of the portion of our front yard which is behind our fence, but legally within the street right of way?