it's true :( safety is important but if the tree has never caused any issues then it should definitely be allowed to stay there. there's just something so sad about cutting down trees. however we've been having lots of storms lately and i've seen trees be split in half from them... it can be scary. regardless i still feel bad. wouldn't it be better just to trim them than to remove them entirely?
I genuinely don't know, but you raise a good point - the tree might fall anyway, so why not cut it down early and save everyone the danger.