As I was leaving for work this morning, I passed this dude who was walking his dog on my street. He was what you might call "large and in charge." Which is fine. But clearly, bending over was a bit of an effort for him. I say this because I noticed him come up to a tree that was hanging lower than he was tall, and rather than duck under the branches and go on with his life, he started breaking off the branches so he could walk under them without bending. And then he was dropping the branches in the tree owner's yard. Which made me wonder...
- Is it socially acceptable to break someone's tree?
- Who is responsible for the portion of the tree hanging over the public sidewalk?
- Is it socially acceptable to leave the broken branches in someone's yard?
- Or, if the city is responsible for the sidewalk portion of the trees, should you throw the branches in the street, which the city, I assume, is also responsible for?
- But if you throw the branches in the street, and the city people come by and see them, does the owner of the house now look like a littering dipshit, and do you want that on your conscience?
So tell me, what is the socially acceptable way to deal with a tree or bush or other form of plantlife that is encroaching on your walk? As someone who prefers the sidewalk over the street, I've spent many a walk or run wondering about that.
5 comments:
Well, I've dealt with tree issues recently so here's my $.02
If you live in SLC, then trees that are in the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street are the responsibility of the city. I found this out when one of my trees died and the city replaced it free of charge.
The city sends people our periodically to trim the trees but it's sometimes a few years between trimmings. The owner of the property has the option of calling the city to ask for tree trimming if it's needed sooner, but anyone with a set of loppers could get away with minor maintenance of branches.
If you visit the SLC Forestry Dept website, you'll see the following quote:
"One of the most prominent locations of public trees is the area adjacent to city streets. This city owned space, often located between the curb and sidewalk, is referred to as the "Parking or Planting Strip".
Requests to plant, maintain, or remove public trees--including private work on public trees--are coordinated and processed by the city’s Forestry Program. Private work on public trees requires issuance of an authorizing permit. For details concerning the permit process please refer to tree permits."
So technically....old Fatty McFat Fat shouldn't be messing with the trees. He should call SLC Forestry to have the tree pruned. :)
In Kansas, the trees are the homeowners responsibility, as is clearing the sidewalk. Oh, and if for some reason the sidewalk cracks, buckles, has problems the homeowner has to pay to fix it. If you do not have a sidewalk in front of your house and the city deems it necessary for one to be there the homeowner has to pay for installment, no choice. This is in housing areas. Anyhow, you do not care about sidewalks, back to trees: my city rules tree limbs must not hang lower than 6' above the sidewalk.
I don't know about trees on the other side of the sidewalk since technically the homeowner doesn't own that land, the city does, but just try not mowing that portion and see where it gets you.
Again, this is in Kansas...could be completely different where you are.
I do not think it is socially responsible to break apart trees that do not belong to you for any reason though. I would throw the limbs in the middle of the sidewalk and hope that the fat a$$ had to stoop over to pick them up or trip and fall. I would repeat this routine daily, for months on end possibly. But I am vindictive and don't like people touching my stuff, even if it is in their way. Leave me a note that I will ignore or complain to the city and they will leave me a note that I will not ignore.
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i.e.
Responsibility aside, it's not nice to break trees. Mean to the tree.
I forgot we were ever talking about a tree here. I'm still trying to visualize someone so big that they can't bend over a few inches... I think that's the bigger issue... no pun intended...
I think the bigger question is why didn't someone stop and smack the guy breaking the tree branches in the face with one for being such an ass hole?
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