Of all the calls I make to TMC, (Transit Metro Control), none is more gratifying than seeing the response to a tree trimming request. Homeowners are required to trim the trees in front of their home or business, but this has created some disparity in when limbs and leaves get cut away from our overhead wires. The decision to make property owners responsible for tree trimming has created a dead beat culture that makes for a disparity of time of when a tree gets its branches cut away from our traveling wires. Fortunately, our overhead crew responds quickly, and when they cut down limbs, any complaints from the landlord or tenants about the manner of tree cutting, falls on deaf ears when ‘life and limb’ is made under a public safety action. Fortunately our crew does a good pruning job so as to not distort the tree’s canopy. Even so, trees are forced to grow in a way that is somewhat unnatural as they cannot overhang our wires.
If a building on a corner has doors that open onto two different streets, and only one address is used for the mail, the owner can discount the tree by the door that is not officially recognized as a mail stop and say that the address does not exist, and hence not their responsibility to pay for tree trimming by the unused entrance.
The delay in maintenance we renters face in our older rent controlled buildings is astonishing. This is matched only by our denial or hesitancy to report or call in a problem to the owner via a building manager. Hence, most repairs come in the nature of an emergency. This can be disruptive, especially regarding water leaks and electrical hazard, and elevator repair. So much of our maintenance culture has shifted to an emergency case only.
The only thing more shocking is the cost of a rent increase in a vacant unit. Some say that doing away with rent control would bring down rents overall, but most of us don’t believe it in a second. As long as a shortage of housing exists, rent control at least keeps some of us in a stable or more realistic budget to survive in San Francisco. If an exodus of population occurs, such as what happened in 1999, in what we call the dot com bomb, large leaseholders just keep units vacant so as to keep rents up, to wait out the cycle until the next boom. This city has a history of boom and bust, and the siphoning swindle of taking cash from unsuspecting newcomers or visitors. So too goes the escape from responsibility with tree trimming.
Transit Metro Control no longer asks us for an address for a tree trim request, as the mandatory owner responsibility law for tree trimming can create more problems in a lack of action necessary for safety. When my poles come down from a tree, I do get results very quickly now that the law seems to be off the books, at least unofficially. This is how most city departments work. We can only guess what the current modus operandi is, with or without a law on or off the books! On and off changes baffle even the best of us with what the current Standard Operating Procedure is in play.
The one good thing about major street construction, when pipes for a sewer or water line upgrade occurs, are that trolleys are moved temporarily to a curb lane and all the overhanging branches get cut down. I guess this is because eminent domain and public safety are much more obvious to point, hence the fear of litigation remains close to zero. A huge overhanging limb on Hayes was finally cut down because pipeline installation is on the way. Other smaller tree limbs have been cut so we can travel in the curb lane without threat from tree limbs.
Indeed, as any bobtail delivery or pickup driver can attest, trees on the curb get damaged or cause damage when attempting to park properly by the curb. The fear of tree and vehicle damage make for a double park situation that cuts off free travel in a lane. Tree trimming helps all large vehicle drivers great and small; including trolleybuses, because our poles fall off of the wires when the tap the branches, especially after a heavy rain when the limbs droop lower, laden with water.
A branch from a gum tree inadvertently fell in front of my trolleybus by the corner Walgreens at O’Farrell and Divisadero. Luckily, no one was hurt, and I saw it in time to stop nearside at O’Farrell and call it in. Just a few moments later, a cyclist was hit up the street in the other direction so the line was blocked. Because of this delay with the tree branch, I was put out of harms’ way from the distracted cyclist that got knocked off his bike by another bus. I felt a wonderful feeling of Providence as the tree protected me from harm, from another accident. My gratitude for the shade they provide is immense, and I felt as though this love came back to me by this gum tree.
The Fire Department came in ten minutes to direct traffic, and our Overhead Crew arrived in fifteen minutes. I love it when passengers and bystanders marvel at how fast our city responds to an emergency. In less than half an hour, I was on my way, with all the branches cut down and cleared to the curb.
A poem follows about our median trees making way for the BRT on Van Ness. I am not saying cutting them down was a bad thing, I am just thanking them for their existence on a hot summer day. I also thank the Friends of the Urban Forest for planting new ones, and can’t wait to pitch in when I have more time when I retire. Hah.
Being in the Zen in transit means the overhead crew has trimmed branches, or we get an immediate response when we make a call after de-wiring!
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 