Last Saturday bright and early my cartoon watching was interrupted by DPS cutting down two healthy trees on my street.

Well, ok..... the healthy trees had a few really dead branches .....

Not wanting to live in cement city..... I watched as DPS raised the cherry picker, or whatever you call that thing that takes them to the top of tree, and began to trim the tree.

I went back to my Saturday brain zone out (cartoons) and then heard a big crruiuuucnnnnsnap.

Oh no they didn''t!!! I said to myself..... I look out and yep, they surely did...... one of the trees was cut to a stump.....

I thought to myself....this is the time that knowing a few important phone numbers would come in handy....so to the phone I went and a dialing I did.....

Dang....voice mail......dialed another number...dang dang.... another voice mail.....

So I leave messages and run to throw some clothes on so I can go out and raise a ruckus.....yep.... all 5' 4" of me.

By the time I get dressed (5 minutes later) and head for the front door.....who do I see out there? Why it's Councilman Murphy........ He was one of the numbers I left a message on...

Awesome..the calvary is here...... I get out there and meet up with Councilman Murphy and one of the DPS guys... of course with tact I ask..... "why are you cutting down a healthy tree?" .....DPS guy replies with, "well, when we have to cut off several tree branches because they are dead, what is usually left is something of a serious eye sore."

So I say, "Ahhhh, so because the otherwise healthy tree isn't pleasing to look at by some, we just willy nilly cut the tree down that took decades to grow?"

The DPS Guys says, "Hey, I am with you on that but when the trees are lopsided it is better that it come all the way down."

He then adds, "we will have to do the same thing to the one next to it".

I stop and look at him cockeyed and say, "What? TWO of them"...then I look and yeppers both trees are coming down.

Because I think it's better to go into my house and yell at the dog or something than the poor DPS guy...I turn and look at him and Councilman Murphy and say...this is a bunch of %#&@(*% well you get the point.

I then call Councilwoman Brady and to complain about murdering healthy trees and that we just lost over 220 from the Ash Bore disease..yadi yadi yadi...

She was pleasant as usual and brought up that sometimes when trees are trimmed of all the dead branches that the trees themselves are visions of utter eye sore. She pointed out that sometimes Edison will cut back trees because of the power lines and when they are done .....yuck... the vision of the trees are eyesores.

Of course I am still steaming because the last thing I want is my street to be bare of trees.

Well today I got a crude lesson in this.... Take a look at the photos I took whilst getting updated condo project pics.

I can now understand what the DPS dude and Councilwoman Brady was explaining...

Sometimes we don't see the branches because of the trees and in this case....I would rather see the branches than what is left of the trees....

Thank You Councilman Murphy for coming out to take a look...Thank You Councilwoman Brady for taking the time to explain... and Thank You DPS Dude for not getting a tude with me.... I know that must have been difficult.

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"Sometimes we must serve in order to lead"
by Unknown

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RubberArm (09-27-05)

Did anyone mention anything about possibly replacing the two trees on your street? Maybe when they order new trees, they can plant some fresh greens on your street.

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I wish they would cut down some of the trees on Richmond street, west of dix. They are diseased and busting up the sidewalks.

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Do Murphy and Brady show up that quickly at everyone's door who calls them? I would say that Robin sure has an in with them.

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Wolverine,

That is what I told Robin also. But it has to be at the homeowners request. So if her new neighbors would like replacement trees I will make sure to forward it on to the Department.

We have had funding issues for tree replacement for many years.

Sometimes funds were available, some years not. The new supervisor has made removals and replacement a priority. This I am very pleased about. Twice this year we have ordered trees.

Also pistons generally the homeowner has to be the person requesting the tree removal. If you have the address to the homes on Richmond I will check with the DPS and see if they have requested removals. We can also have them check the damaged walks. If you wouuld PM the information to me I will look into it.

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OPPS! Thank you Robin! I thought I was going to have to take you for a drive to find you a couple of trees like that. Seems you didnt have to go far to find them.

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Thanks Valerie. I will get that information to you as soon as possible.

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or maybe they just take their jobs as councilpeople serously and try to help out as much as they can when they can.

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TheGirlNextDoor (09-27-05)

Apparantly for the first time in many years (or ever) there is a tree replacement program in LP.

The downside is that the homeowner must request the tree be planted.

I don't know any more about that program maybe one of the councilmembers will post additional information.

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Gosh I must be special because not only has Murphy & Brady come out for issues but so has Disanto and Higgins..... Disanto on the sidewalk replacement marks and Higgins to drop off stuff about the Schools, etc.

In all cases (except Councilman Higgins) the Councilmembers discussed the issues with not only myself but with several of my neighbors. I am not an island ...what affects my investment - effects everyone's in the vicinity.

I think that it is awesome that Councilmembers find the time to discuss issues with the taxpayers and I am sure that I am but only one person that the council members respond to when called on a matter.

Contacting our city leaders for assistance of which they respond doesn't mean that someone has an 'in' with them....it just means that some of our city leaders respond to the needs of the taxpaying citizen.

Though considering the amount of nepotism / cronyism in our City, I can certainly understand why one would automatically think that in order to get anything done you would have to have an 'in' with a city leader.

Times are changing..... the old way of running this city is going out the door and fast......

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TheGirlNextDoor (09-27-05)

Robin I think maybe this council has a real interest in the people at least most of them, amybe things are changing.



Rocky

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Yep I agree...

What cracks me up is that everytime I see Councilman Disanto he asks me about Mr. Magoo and some other members.

Disanto is really interested in what many say about his performance, etc.

He hasn't posted yet as he is just learning about his new fangled computer But Councilman Disanto along with Higgins, Brady, & Murphy do appreciate our concerns, etc. and try very hard to address our issues.

During the Sidewalk police issue, Councilman Disanto came out three times and had discussed the sidewalk program and listened to concerns from at least 6 homeowners. Same with Councilwoman Brady.

I think that most of our city leaders are starting to embrace that wonderful thing called communication.

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I would like to thank Robin for coming forward with this issue and publicly admitting her mistake and appologizing. She didn't have to and many others would never have done it.

Thanks Robin.

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TheGirlNextDoor (09-27-05)

As usual, jujitsu, you take a good thing and try to twist it into something it's not.

Kudos to the Councilpersons that not only hear their citizens, but actually act and therefore serve the community.

Thanks for the post Robin, it's encouraging.

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Accountability for all, big or small, is what's needed this fall.

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Zlhsalaru (09-27-05)

Maybe there is an election in about 60 Days . They should take a ride down CIcotte to see the hack job Edison did on some Healthy trees. some of those should be removed It took a neighbor 3 weeks to get a dead limb picked up . It was on the ground 15 ft long 6 in Diameter and the DPS passed it by over and over again . I understand they are short handed ,but how much effort would it have taken to stop and throw it in the back of their truck..

We have people waiting with orange x's on trees for over a year nowand we were told they could take down 3 trees a day. . There are still over 150 diseased ash trees to be cut down..

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If pro is the opposite of con? would CONgress be the oppositeof PROgress?

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I had a tree that got damaged durring the construction on fort park can i request a tree in front of the house, or are the requests just for the trees affected by the ash bore bugs?

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It's not limited to only replacement of ash trees. So please yes request a tree :-)

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DonnaBird (09-27-05)