Make contact with your city arborist. They know/pick when the nice old trees are getting cut down and if you get lucky you might be the only one who has inquired about reclaiming the wood.
Forestry service is pushing reclaiming/recycling municipal wood as a enviromental win and a local jobs win: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/Spfo/pubs/misc/utilizingmunitrees/in... http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/tps/recycle/recycling_trees.pdf