These trees needed to be trimmed, not hugged
Against my better judgment, I’ve decided to weigh in on the controversy surrounding the trimming of the dead trees on Wabash Avenue. The facts are so twisted that a casual reader might believe Paul Bunyan took an axe to a poor flourishing tree, but quite the contrary is true, of course.
The uncontested facts are that there are trees all over town in various stages of death that routinely drop their branches onto the sidewalks or the heads of innocent pedestrians. Due to budget constraints, the city is unable to trim or remove the dead limbs/trees.
The current situation, blown totally out of proportion by some, involves the trimming of some of those dead trees. The truth is that many of the trees trimmed are slated to be removed by the city as soon as funds permit. After contacting the city regarding the overgrown flower boxes and rotted benches, the city asked if Ellis Law would “adopt” the flower boxes in exchange for the city removing the rotted benches as though it was some favor to us. We have no obligation to worry about either, but in an attempt to beautify the area, we agreed and commenced to do the necessary pruning.
The half-dead trees are located in our adopted flower boxes. Drive by Sixth and Wabash in front of Rogers Jewelers and take a look for yourself. Is it reasonable to believe we would need to ask the city for a permit to do exactly what they had previously asked us to do: Take care of the flower boxes?
We have spent a considerable amount of time and resources over the years maintaining city property downtown, including re-painting yellow curbs; spraying weed killer up and down Wabash Avenue; tending to the flower boxes; placing garbage receptacles out for trash, and so on. Does anyone really believe I received some benefit from hiring a tree trimmer with over 30 years experience to remove the dead limbs so they wouldn’t fall on someone’s head or cause an elderly person on a walk from the Deming Center to fall and break a hip?
It is true that one of the trees was “topped” and looks ugly. I don’t like it anymore than anyone else. The entire top was dead and needed cut out. The whole tree should be removed by those responsible — the city. They’re all dead or dying and they’re all absolutely ugly and need removed.
I understand the media’s desire to sensationalize whatever drama they can muster and find it quite amusing that they’ve spent several days doing so over whether or not a permit is needed to cut dead branches off of trees in the tree row. I kept waiting for the live-cam or helicopter to hover over to cover this breaking story. I guess we should be thankful that a more serious matter isn’t looming in our city that would have stolen the “headlines.”
I find it curious that my neighbors have also trimmed and/or removed the trees in front of their building without unnecessary permits and the councilman who stirred up the media doesn’t seem to care. (I don’t care either. They should keep them trimmed or remove them if they want.)
Just because a legislative body passes legislation doesn’t make it legal, practical or even wise. Legislation is passed around this country every day at all levels of government that the courts determine unconstitutional. Next, they’ll want to tell us what color to paint our houses … Oh, sorry, they already tried that.
Unlike Mr. Nation, I do not suggest anyone waste their time dealing with the arborist, the city council, the mayor’s office, the street department, or anyone else if an emergency exists. I believe common sense, as uncommon as it seems to be with this subject, is the better approach. If there is a dead limb that might fall on you or your child, I don’t think you need anyone’s permission to remove it and I don’t really care how many ordinances the tree huggers get passed to the contrary. I would simply suggest you call the mayor’s office and report the problem and if they don’t send someone in a reasonable amount of time to correct the problem and make the area safe, then I would remove it myself if I had the ability before someone gets hurt. If you don’t, rest assured that some aggressive attorney (and you know how they can be) will find a way to sue you after someone is injured and the city will point the finger at you, too, for not taking care of the tree.
In a nutshell, apparently the city (or at least one media-seeking councilman) wanted us to ask for a permit to trim the dead tree limb in our adopted flower box that they requested we maintain. We didn’t and don’t think we needed to. They do. That’s really the whole story. Alert the media!
— Mike Ellis
Terre Haute
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