Was informed I broke an ordinance today...

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EatenByLimestone

EatenByLimestone

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Jul 12, 2006
11,894
Schenectady, NY
upstatepestandwildlife.com
I'm in the process of selling a house in the city. In front of the house is/was two medium sized maple trees. 2 years ago there was a bad ice storm and while the trees made it through unscathed, the city went on a mad trimming spree that left the trees unbalanced. If there was another ice storm the trees are sure to come down, this time on the house and over the sidewalk many children use to go to the school down the street. About a year and a half ago I informed the city of their hatchet job and the need for the trees to come down.

Now the house is for sale. 1 month ago they took the branches and left me 2 toothpicks standing in front about 10-12 feet high. They were below the cable lines so they were not too high. Today I installed a new 20 in. bar on the saw (I've never needed more than the 16 I bought with the saw...) and went after the toothpicks. The city obviously isn't worried about my house selling.

Well, I dropped them both and was in the process of cutting them into rounds when 2 city trucks pull up and tell me I can't cut them down, that they are city trees and there is an ordanance against doing so. Apparantly I can be fined for finishing what the city left. We bickered back and forth and eventually I said I was sorry for cutting their toothpicks down. I think that is all the guy wanted to hear.

He'll be out tomorrow morning to pick up the stuff I didn't want and grind the stumps. The neighbors and I have never seen the city move so fast. I've called the cops in the past and they didn't show up that fast. If I ever come across a crime in progress I'll be sure to cut the tree down in front of the house in order to summon help quickly.

Matt
 
Wouldnt you love to know which neighbor ratted you out? The same neighbor would probably not even glance at the phone if your house was on fire.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
The neighbors and I have never seen the city move so fast. I've called the cops in the past and they didn't show up that fast. If I ever come across a crime in progress I'll be sure to cut the tree down in front of the house in order to summon help quickly.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of a joke:

A man was going up to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window.

He opened the back door to go turn off the light but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things. He phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house," and he said "no."

Then they said that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be along when available.

George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them." Then he hung up.

Within five minutes six police cars, a SWAT Team, a helicopter, two fire trucks, a paramedic and an ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence and caught the burglars red handed.

One of the Policemen said to the man: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

The man replied, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"
 
I saw a city flat bed drive by once as I was taking the 2nd toothpick down and then drive by again after I was finished. I think that is the rat. The neighbors I talked to were happy to see them come down. The guy across the street was going to do the same thing this weekend. He's called the city a few times to finish their job they started on the tree in front of his house.

Matt
 
I was pretty happy with the saw. I wasn't sure how well a 290 would pull a 20" bar. (I normally run a 16" bar and chain.) The dealer was out of yellow chain when I was there so I ended up with a green chain. It pulled the chain nicely when buried the full bar length. I bogged it down a few times, but that might have been the tree starting to move a little.

Matt
 
My mother-in-law had a dead ash tree in her front yard about three feet from the curb and leaning over the street. Even though it was pretty small, the village said they didn't have the funds to cut it. So I decided it was best to drop it in the road, then shove it off to the side while cut it up. I set some cones out and parked my truck in the way and had one lane closed for about an hour..
It actually worked out pretty well, cause I didn't have to rake the twigs up out of the grass. I just swept them into a pile on the street and picked them up with a shovel. I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, because nobody said a word.
 
I got a call this morning that they were working at it quarter to 7 and done by 8. I guess they had 8 trucks and accompanying crew standing around watching and drinking coffee.

They left all the neighbors trees standing without limbs. :lol:


Matt
 
I guess things are different there. Here we own to the middle of the road (basically). If I want to cut a tree that is along the road, I just cut it and nobody cares. If the county wants to cut a tree along the road they have to get permission from the land owner unless it is a hazard, like right after a storm. Yes, the county has the right-of-way, but the land is still owned by the me out there all along my property line.

I did have the county ask me for permission to cut some trees along our place. If the 6 trees, I gave them permission to cut one and that was only because it was beginning to show rot on the bottom and eventually would have fallen into the high wires. It was off the right-of-way for the electric company so they would not touch it. It seems they would rather have a storm blow down a tree or two, break the power lines and then come to fix it. Crazy, but that is how it works.

This is sort of the crazy thing that makes me just shake my head. We'll get a high windstorm maybe in the summer with some thunder storms and the news media makes a big thing about all the downed limbs and trees. Well, if you look at them, the things were already dead so it didn't take much. It would have been cheaper and less hassle to fix the problem first. Remove the dead stuff! But, that is now how the system works.
 
EatenByLimestone said:
I got a call this morning that they were working at it quarter to 7 and done by 8. I guess they had 8 trucks and accompanying crew standing around watching and drinking coffee.

They left all the neighbors trees standing without limbs. :lol:


Matt
Click to expand...

I'll bet if you do a little investigating you may find that their job/work papers will indicate that it took that large a crew to do the job because they cut the trees down and bucked them and cleaned it all up in record time.

I imagine the real issue there isn't that you took the trees down; rather that you took someone's job and did it yourself.
 
Slow1 said:
EatenByLimestone said:
I got a call this morning that they were working at it quarter to 7 and done by 8. I guess they had 8 trucks and accompanying crew standing around watching and drinking coffee.

They left all the neighbors trees standing without limbs. :lol:


Matt
Click to expand...

I'll bet if you do a little investigating you may find that their job/work papers will indicate that it took that large a crew to do the job because they cut the trees down and bucked them and cleaned it all up in record time.

I imagine the real issue there isn't that you took the trees down; rather that you took someone's job and did it yourself.
Click to expand...

that could be. but. the guy around the corner from me works for a town tree department a few towns from here. the guys take turns on who gets the tree they take down on work time. they then sell the wood. so most likely you pissed off someone that works in the tree department and he now is not able to collect any money.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
I guess things are different there. Here we own to the middle of the road (basically). If I want to cut a tree that is along the road, I just cut it and nobody cares. If the county wants to cut a tree along the road they have to get permission from the land owner unless it is a hazard, like right after a storm. Yes, the county has the right-of-way, but the land is still owned by the me out there all along my property line.

I did have the county ask me for permission to cut some trees along our place. If the 6 trees, I gave them permission to cut one and that was only because it was beginning to show rot on the bottom and eventually would have fallen into the high wires. It was off the right-of-way for the electric company so they would not touch it. It seems they would rather have a storm blow down a tree or two, break the power lines and then come to fix it. Crazy, but that is how it works.

This is sort of the crazy thing that makes me just shake my head. We'll get a high windstorm maybe in the summer with some thunder storms and the news media makes a big thing about all the downed limbs and trees. Well, if you look at them, the things were already dead so it didn't take much. It would have been cheaper and less hassle to fix the problem first. Remove the dead stuff! But, that is now how the system works.
Click to expand...

i works the same around here with the power company that runs the boston area. i was doing a job. new electric service for a old theater and block of stores. 800 amp main. the power company hooks there wires to mine. my wires twin runs of 500 mcm copper. 800 amps. they hook their wires to mine with 1/0 aluminum 125 amp wire. i asked them why they did that because of the computer guy on the second floor was complaining that his computers woulnd't work on 99 volts because of the old service was to small, i said those wires will burn. he said with a smile if they do we'll be out to replace them.
nothing like keeping yourself busy.
 
Hmmm . . . I guess I have it pretty good here.

A few years back after our Ice Storm the town secured a grant to trim back trees with branches that were too close to the road. The crew coming through on my road apparently were getting a bit tired of trimming branches and opted instead to start taking whole trees . . . and were about to clean out all of my maple and oak trees in the front until my wife (five foot and short) came out and told them in no uncertain terms that they would not cut the trees and could go back to trimming the branches . . . they tried to argue with her, but she stood her ground and they dug out the pruning saws . . . until they passed my driveway and got ready to go back to cutting the trees with the regular saws until she again came out and told them that her husband would be quite irate if they took down those trees . . . and again they went back to the pruning saws.

Flash forward to a year or so ago and I had a large elm that was dead . . . neighbor across the way was concerned that the tree would fall on to the road so she called the town . . . town sent a crew up to take down the tree . . . left the rounds for me to process . . . which is good since there was no way I could have safely taken down this tree.
 
I work in the City of Poughkeepsie NY. (No, I don't recieve combat pay!) It's also known as a Tree City USA. Try to take a tree down in this City!! We had an old Magnolia that would drop branches down in our parking lot all the time, and we had to practically threaten the city that if anyone got hit in the head with a limb etc that we would show on letterhead that we begged the city to cut the tree down. Once they recieved that letter, then things got going fast. On one of our community residences, there is a hugh tree between the sidewalk and the road, this thing craps on our building, and property 12 months out of the year, leaves, seeds , twigs branches etc. We went to trim it back and recieved stiff fines! Tree City, yeah nice trees, riddled in crime and drama.
 
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