The power company contracted out to a tree service to trim trees along its lines. Well, I have two trees that needed attention.
They finally got out to my place and began to do their work.
They butchered my trees!!!!! They didn’t simply prune 6-10 feet from the lines and make sure any “dangerous” limbs were taken care of, they cut every branch on the road side of my trees off to the main body of the tree.
Needless to say I am quite upset. I went out and talked to them and asked them what the heck they were doing and if it was the first time they had pruned a tree. The guy cutting of course said he had to do what he did and that the tree was still “healthy” and had a canopy to it.
I laughed at him and pointed at the tree and showed him that half the tree was gone and it looked like garbage. I said the tree should have some sort of symmetry and that we lived here and had to now have ugly unbalanced trees in our front yard. I asked him if they were going to just take the whole trees, and he said no.
So we talked some more and he finally conceded that it didn’t look very good and he agreed to now do some pruning on the opposite sides to even it out as best he could. But I am still going to be left with some ugly trees.
Now I KNOW they didn’t need to butcher these trees like this because up until this past year I did the pruning myself. And I always kept the lines clear and the tree had a full even canopy.
These idiots did the same thing though all the way down the street.
And to add insult to injury, the guy cutting took out our lamp out by the road (lamp on post). So he is going to have to go buy us a new one to replace it.
What the heck is wrong with people? Don’t they take pride in their jobs and care about others at all? I asked him if he would like these trees on his property as they looked now and he said “No, I would cut them down since they are a hazard”. HAZARD?!?!?! My trees were beautiful. And they never posed a “hazard” aside from the minor pruning they actually needed to do to keep the lines clear.
This kid doing the cutting was also quite young. He could not have been over 25.
Sorry if this is a bit disjointed, it is just aggravating….. to the extreme.
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- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
Okay, here are some pictures to give folks an idea of what I have now. And it is actually worse in person. The pictures don't really convey the entire situation.
Keep in mind as well that I took pride in my trees. I kept them pruned with a lower branch level no lower than 7-8 feet so that you could walk under them without them hitting you. I would also go up and prune selective limbs that were too heavy with leaves or that were not "right" so that I kept a symmetrical canopy that was beautiful.
We had shade from the front door all the way to the road. And we would sit under the trees and watch traffic and wait for our kids to come home from school... you know, those few priceless pleasures we have.
Now?
It is going to be interesting come spring....
__________________
- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
Wow. Sorry to hear of your troubles. People just don't think or care. I need to hire a tree trimming service because I have quite a few limbs that will need a bucket truck to get the job done. I think I'll be having a nice conversation with the workers before they do this.
Hopefully you're will fill in a bit.
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66 Coupe Tahoe Turq - 200, Pertronix & Flamethrower, 3 Row Rad, Cliff. 6/2 96 GT Vert Laser Red - FMS pulleys, Bullet ProM, BBK CAI, Prof. Prod. Elbow and 70mm TB, MAC Off-Road H, Borla side exhaust, Tokicos, B&M Ripper, 18x10 & 18x9 DD Bulletts 06 GT Tungsten, UIP, Red Leather, Stick, 18" blades, Steeda CAI, SCT XCal 2 w/ MC Racing 91 tune, MACs, BMR SP010 springs, BMR Adj Panhard, CDC ducktail & quarter louvers, Rear louver, painted black stripes
The tree trimming service (usually Asplundth(sp?) around by me) works off a contract with the power company. The power company only cares that the limbs aren't overhanging the wires. Not to stand up for the trimmers but if they prunned every tree "neatly" then it would take them longer and they won't get any more money from the contract so they may eat the costs doing this. They try to get a certain length along the road done everyday.
I've seen some previous healthy trees die because of this. With some of this heavy prunning shocks the tree and dies plus they don't tar or protect the cuts on the tree so water and insects can wreak havoc too.
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1968 Mustang coupe, Acapulco Blue, 289 2v, C-4, Power Steering.
Hopefully a 1969 convertible or Sportsroof (non Mach or Boss) for next Mustang project
Trying to find my father's 1973 Mustang Grande he bought brand new. 3F04F126773 last known registration and title was in New Jersey, 1982.
The tree trimming service (usually Asplundth(sp?) around by me) works off a contract with the power company. The power company only cares that the limbs aren't overhanging the wires. Not to stand up for the trimmers but if they prunned every tree "neatly" then it would take them longer and they won't get any more money from the contract so they may eat the costs doing this. They try to get a certain length along the road done everyday.
I've seen some previous healthy trees die because of this. With some of this heavy prunning shocks the tree and dies plus they don't tar or protect the cuts on the tree so water and insects can wreak havoc too.
That is the same company that did this to my trees!
I personally don't care about "neatly" as much as "correctly". There is absolutely NO reason to butcher trees like this. And you are correct about them not sealing the cut wood. I have not seen them do that to any trees down the street.
As for them taking longer.... frankly I could care less. They spent almost 5 hours at my place today and ended up with what the pictures showed. If they pruned it correctly they could have been in and out in probably less than 2 (and I am being generous).
My wife thinks that we will probably end up having to have at least one tree totally taken down because of this. We will see come spring though.
__________________
- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
shartley The thing is, it's property easements. The city owns the land under and around the wires. You pay taxes on the land and do upkeep. the workers just did there job in trimming the trees straight up from the city easement. just as the utility right of way in the back yard of a lot of property. The city easements are there to protect the greater whole. ( the wires shorting out and causing a city wide black out) Yes the trees look like crap, and yes the people that trimmed didn't explain. But, you are not going to win a court battle.
shartley The thing is, it's property easements. The city owns the land under and around the wires. You pay taxes on the land and do upkeep. the workers just did there job in trimming the trees straight up from the city easement. just as the utility right of way in the back yard of a lot of property. The city easements are there to protect the greater whole. ( the wires shorting out and causing a city wide black out) Yes the trees look like crap, and yes the people that trimmed didn't explain. But, you are not going to win a court battle.
Court battle? LOL You must be joking, right? Do you honestly think I would take this to court?
I will cut down the trees myself before I go to court over their crappy trimming job. And I know all about “easements”, but there is right and wrong. I have to maintain the grass and other things in that same area, they don’t pay me to maintain it. But I can assure you that if I didn’t I would get a nasty gram from the town for not taking care of the property.
Keep in mind as well that they DAMAGED my trees. And the trees are NOT in the “easement”. It is not as simple as they can do anything they want in the “easement” with no regard to property damage or other issues.
But you are correct, if push came to shove in court about all that would probably happen would be they would just come in and take out the trees they already butchered.
However, like I said, I am not worried about that. I am just upset that they did it the way they did. There is simply NO excuse that holds up to common decency and what is “right”. These trees have been there for a darn long time with NO problems. They have been trimmed away from the power lines every year and have NEVER been butchered like this. So while your response may be from a “legal” standpoint, keep in mind I am coming from the stand point of having to live here.
I believe in right and wrong. And what they did was wrong, legal or not. I live my life by doing what is RIGHT, regardless of if it is legal or not…. and the same goes in reverse. I live my life not doing WRONG whether it is legal or not.
__________________
- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
Its true with any kind of lower income and physical labor job these days. People don't take pride in their work, they just don't. They show up, LATE, do a cruddy job, procrastinate, leave early, and hope to receive a full week's paycheck for only 3/4 of the time and 1/10 the effort.
shartley The thing is, it's property easements. The city owns the land under and around the wires. You pay taxes on the land and do upkeep. the workers just did there job in trimming the trees straight up from the city easement. just as the utility right of way in the back yard of a lot of property. The city easements are there to protect the greater whole. ( the wires shorting out and causing a city wide black out) Yes the trees look like crap, and yes the people that trimmed didn't explain. But, you are not going to win a court battle.
Not necessarily true. I own the land to the middle of my street (private road). The power company has an easement for its power lines which run across the front of my property. That gives them access for maintenance purposes. Unfortunately, the "Butchers of Asplundh" come through and just slice and dice. It looks horrible when they're done, and I've seen one instance where what they did actually did more harm than good.
You're right in that there's not much you can do about it, though. The power company has access and can do what they want to protect their assets. Why they don't put more lines underground is beyond me.
Shartley is right. There's right and there's legal.
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'05 Sonic Blue GT w/ '07 V8 engine, 5-sp, IUP, Beige leather interior, nothing else -
just the way I wanted it. (1 of 113)
OK, so I've added a few things to it. Check my Profile - too many to list here.
For one, it was not an easement or right of way issue. The trimming service needed a permission form to be signed to do the work. If it was an easement or right of way issues none would be needed. But with that said, the paper did not say they could do "anything" they wanted, only that they could trim the trees to clear the power lines.
The trimmers seemed to think that this paper gave them permission to do anything they wanted to clear the lines, and this is not correct. Property damage as well as unnecessary cutting and defacing of property is not covered by the "permission" given.
They butchered almost every tree down the street. And in cases where they should have just removed the entire tree, they simply lopped off the top of the tree! And the rest they took all branches facing the road off at the main trunk of the tree. There was no thought given to proper tree pruning or even sealing up the exposed wounds.
They also didn't clean up their messes worth a darn. I still had/have twigs and even a few larger "logs" left behind. Taking a garden rake and going over the area that didn't have snow on it (such as the driveway and side of the road) would have taken care of this mess. But they didn't do that at all.
My wife ended up calling the Power Company the other day and she told them what had happened. She even told them the things they (the trimming company) said and that they tried to argue with me about it all. The power company was shocked and not happy with what happened. They said it was inexcusable and apologized for it all saying that it should never have happened like that and that they were going to take the complaint higher. They thanked my wife for calling them because unless folks do they don't know there may be a problem.
With that said, I think it is over now on our end. The damage is done and life goes on. But I encourage others to actually take the time to file complaints when they see something that is not right. Unless folks do, a record of it can't be made and many times the right people don't know there is even a problem.
I thank the membership for the moral support though. I also suggest that if a similar thing comes up for you all, do NOT allow them to trim the trees. Take the time and do it yourself if you can, or try to find someone who can and knows how to prune a tree while still leaving its general shape and health intact. This is the first year I didn't trim the trees myself. Lesson learned!
__________________
- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
Court battle? LOL You must be joking, right? Do you honestly think I would take this to court?
I will cut down the trees myself before I go to court over their crappy trimming job. And I know all about “easements”, but there is right and wrong. I have to maintain the grass and other things in that same area, they don’t pay me to maintain it. But I can assure you that if I didn’t I would get a nasty gram from the town for not taking care of the property.
Keep in mind as well that they DAMAGED my trees. And the trees are NOT in the “easement”. It is not as simple as they can do anything they want in the “easement” with no regard to property damage or other issues.
But you are correct, if push came to shove in court about all that would probably happen would be they would just come in and take out the trees they already butchered.
However, like I said, I am not worried about that. I am just upset that they did it the way they did. There is simply NO excuse that holds up to common decency and what is “right”. These trees have been there for a darn long time with NO problems. They have been trimmed away from the power lines every year and have NEVER been butchered like this. So while your response may be from a “legal” standpoint, keep in mind I am coming from the stand point of having to live here.
I believe in right and wrong. And what they did was wrong, legal or not. I live my life by doing what is RIGHT, regardless of if it is legal or not…. and the same goes in reverse. I live my life not doing WRONG whether it is legal or not.
Hmmm? So you admit that you don't care if it's legal or not just so long as it meets your definition of good. I don't guess you extend that courtesy to other people. Well that's good to know!
Hmmm? So you admit that you don't care if it's legal or not just so long as it meets your definition of good. I don't guess you extend that courtesy to other people. Well that's good to know!
Your new argument to support your desire to street race (which is what this post was about) is falling flat here as well. You know what I said in the post you quoted does not justify street racing one bit.
Stop trolling for a fight.
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- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
On an additional note.... it looks like I am moving now anyways. And the trees will probably be taken down completely since the property is going to be used in conjunction with 3 others for purely commercial use (probably put in a grocery store or small mall of some type).
Also my wife called the power company about this and they apologized for how it happened and they said that it should not have been done like that (both the trimming AND how the trimming service treated us). They are sending the complaint up higher and will do their best to have it happen different for others. They said that it was good to call them and let them know about it since otherwise they would not have known anything was wrong. More folks need to actually let the power companies know their thoughts on this type of thing.
So thanks to those who joined in the conversation and rant about this issue. It seems that folks from all over the country are pretty much in agreement on this type of "pruning".
And with that said, the Moderator Team can close this thread if they would... thanks.
__________________
- Sam
The shackles of opression and dependence are most easily slipped on with a smile and kind words of hope.
Tree pruning idiots! (rant) 
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