Shady vs sunny yard?

[Johann Jells]

I'm trying to decide whether to take down a tree over a small rowhouse yard I'm fixing up. It's not like it'll actually make it sunny more than a few hours in late morning, the house is west of the yard and 4 floors, but it'll make it a little less claustrophobic. Sunny is great in those 1st nice days of spring, but by now I'm sitting under my umbrella when I'm out! Does anyone prefer a yard with a big maple over it? House I grew up in the backyard was dominated by a large oak.

Anybody know what taking down a 15" tree costs?