Clearance workers in the news

[Taxmantoo]

Hey Taxmantoo by chance was there a language issue between the workers and the supervisor/work order?

No idea. The only clearance crew I've had recent experience with was CMS Energy. A young supervisor paid us a visit, we discussed what would be removed and what would be trimmed. He noted on a work order to leave my little red cedars alone until they became a problem, paint marked the stems he wanted removed, and a couple of months later two bucket trucks came in and did the work. Nice and quiet, they had hydraulic engine chain saws in the buckets. Everybody on the power company crew seemed to be born here.

The largest cedar I have is about 20 years old and 8-10'. The ones by the power line are 2-4' high and I doubt they will interfere in my lifetime.

 

[treeclimber101]

She wasn't crying over elms, she was crying over stumps.

well i'm sure they'll be back t remove the stumps lol

 

[treeclimber101]

a little bit off the topic but once we mowed a horse shoe pit bothe sides what a mess that was

 

[Bigus Termitius]

well i'm sure they'll be back t remove the stumps lol

LOL...they'd better or she'll be crying over elms again soon enough.

 

[ozzy42]

My uncle cut a crappy little pine tree that was 2 feet out of the ROW in the middle of nowhere and hundreds of other pines growing wild every where,and the pine owner extorted my uncle out of 1500$ just because he could cash in on the deal. The customer was not going to pay the balance until dispute was settled,and he didn't want to wait for the guy to go to court over a small tree that was probably worth 50 -100 $ at the most.

He paid the guy and told him he hoped he chocked on it.

 

[clearance]

i think for tha amount of work that a company like asplundh does they have a excellent rep. and deserve much more credit than given. Furthermore half of the trees and landscape planted in the r.o.w shouldn't be there anyway homeowners just assume that it is o.k. to plant landscape, trees and throw trash there and than complain when it gets removed. guess what i guarantee that those trees weren't on her prop, and who cries over elms anyway .lol

Thank you. That pretty well sums it up.

 

[brnchbrkr]

My uncle cut a crappy little pine tree that was 2 feet out of the ROW in the middle of nowhere and hundreds of other pines growing wild every where,and the pine owner extorted my uncle out of 1500$ just because he could cash in on the deal. The customer was not going to pay the balance until dispute was settled,and he didn't want to wait for the guy to go to court over a small tree that was probably worth 50 -100 $ at the most.

He paid the guy and told him he hoped he chocked on it.

Have seen this happen quite a bit. Can get expensive...Best to make sure you are cutting on the property you have permission to.

And make sure your crew's understands property lines...;-)

And City Ordinances regarding tree pruning/removal.

Sorry to hear about your uncle.

Heard of a farmer clean a fence line he thought he just bought. Neighbor/lawyer gave him an expensive lesson on property lines...and native trees...:jawdrop:

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

No idea. The only clearance crew I've had recent experience with was CMS Energy. A young supervisor paid us a visit, we discussed what would be removed and what would be trimmed.

and a couple of months later two bucket trucks came in and did the work. Nice and quiet, they had hydraulic engine chain saws in the buckets. Everybody on the power company crew seemed to be born here.

You have a PM.

By chance was the crew doing the work Trees Inc? A white and dark green truck?

 

[ropensaddle]

You have a PM.

By chance was the crew doing the work Trees Inc? A white and dark green truck?

Worked with them when they were changing from trees of Houston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Taxmantoo]

You have a PM.

By chance was the crew doing the work Trees Inc? A white and dark green truck?

I thought the buckets were white and blue CMS trucks. The guy who prospected before the cut had a CMS business card.
Several years ago when Asplundth came through, AFAIK everybody involved was in the orange trucks.

 

[pdqdl]

I think someone is overlooking an obvious problem

No one seems to have addressed the issue of what kind of tree they really were. If it is a true chinese elm, it would have been slow growing (that far north), and probably was never touched by the utility company. I didn't think a true chinese elm would survive that far north.

If they were Siberian elms (more often called chinese than by their true names), then the utility crew darned well knew what they were and whacked them on purpose. I'll bet when the lady went to the nursery for advice about what to plant, she asked what would grow fast and wouldn't need a lot of care. Voila! Lovely Siberian hedge trees under the power line.

Everybody that owns a chainsaw in the midwest has put it to use on those invasive "shade trees", and I don't doubt that the line crew thought that they were weeds.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

They are..ur uh..were weeds.

But I think you are right on. We should have never cut that deal with the Sibereans. They are a silly sort.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Are you saying that to have them pruned 2-3 times in 11 years for ROW is not much or a lot, JPS? To me, once every 5 years isn't bad. I would have expected more often depending on how high the utilities were.

Also, are you saying that Arborvitae is a better or worse replacement for chinese elm? I see it as a toss-up as far as aesthetics go. However, the wrong species of arborvitae (or any other plant for that part) would still require the same amount of maintenance.

I was agreeing that cyclical ROW maintenance probably would appear to be tacit approval of the hedge.

IMO an appropriate arb. cv would work for a cheap quick fix of the situation. Use an occidentalis cv and you have a native material use versus an invasive species.

 

[ropensaddle]

No one seems to have addressed the issue of what kind of tree they really were. If it is a true chinese elm, it would have been slow growing (that far north), and probably was never touched by the utility company. I didn't think a true chinese elm would survive that far north.

If they were Siberian elms (more often called chinese than by their true names), then the utility crew darned well knew what they were and whacked them on purpose. I'll bet when the lady went to the nursery for advice about what to plant, she asked what would grow fast and wouldn't need a lot of care. Voila! Lovely Siberian hedge trees under the power line.

Everybody that owns a chainsaw in the midwest has put it to use on those invasive "shade trees", and I don't doubt that the line crew thought that they were weeds.

I have cut a bunch of fast growers planted under lines and it will continue until laws are there to prevent it. I say if you plant a species that will require constant topping under utility easements you should get charged for your actions the costs of remedial trimming and growth inhibitors. Include it on their bill and teach them about immproper species planting.

 

[Rftreeman]

In this province anyone who works around power is trained to make proper cuts. Asplundh included. Improper cuts or stubs are noted and have to be fixed, stubs that is. I am qualified, I make proper cuts, I have seen some really good utility trimming form Asplundh. I am talking about trees in the city growing on either side of and above the line. Trees that look good, that should have never been allowed to live.

:agree2: he's right if it wasn't done right we had to go back and fix it and mistakes are made, anything under 2 inches in diameter can be considered brush and may be cut by mistake, it has happened and will most likely happen again. I'd like to see the spot where the trees/hedges were, I'll bet it was overgrown and looked rough.

 

[Labman]

The sad part is the only decent work I see around here ROW and orange trucks. The locals are all a bunch of tree topping butchers.

 

[Taxmantoo]

Talks over butchered hedge take a choppy turn

And now, resolution:

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20090313/COLUMNISTS09/903130325/1016/COLUMNISTS09
Schneider: Talks over butchered hedge take a choppy turn

John • Schneider • March 13, 2009 • From Lansing State Journal

The moral of this story: Don't send a tree guy to solve a people problem.
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As I wrote Tuesday, a tree "trimming" crew working for the Lansing Board of Water & Light butchered Danise Audette's 12-foot-high Chinese elm hedge, leaving Audette eyeball-to-eyeball with her neighbor.

BWL officials acknowledged that the tree company - Asplundh Tree Expert Co., out of Willow Grove, Pa. - screwed up by whacking Audette's trees all the way down to the ground and promised compensation. A meeting to work out the terms of that reimbursement was scheduled for Wednesday.

As it turned out, there were two such meetings Wednesday - mainly because the first one, dominated by an Asplundh supervisor, was a complete disaster, Audette said.

Audette characterized the man's behavior as "cocky."

Said Audette: "He told me, 'We can throw you a couple hundred bucks; you can go to a nursery and get some trees.' By the time it was over, I was crying so hard I had to go into the house."

That meeting, Audette said, included three Asplundh representatives and one BWL official.
Second attempt

While the BWL folks declined to characterize the tone of the negotiations, their actions seemed to acknowledge that the meeting bombed.

Within an hour or so of the wheels coming off the first meeting, BWL peacemakers Alan Carroll and Tim Palmer were knocking on Audette's door with instructions to make the woman whole.

BWL spokesman Mark Nixon offered this assessment of the second attempt: "I am told the meeting went well - that everyone got along well. (Audette) told them she was leaning toward a privacy fence ..."

Audette confirmed Nixon's report, adding that a BWL crew also rid her backyard of a large tree limb brought down by Wednesday's severe winds.

Asplundh officials in Willow Grove declined Thursday to respond in detail to Audette's description of the meeting, or to identify the Asplundh representatives who participated.

Nixon said Asplundh, not BWL, will pay the costs.
'In good faith'

However, Kristin Wild, in corporate communications, e-mailed me a statement from the company that said the Asplundh representatives "were acting in good faith to resolve the problem, even if personalities seemed to clash."

The statement continued: "In the interest of getting a prompt resolution of the mistake, Asplundh has asked Ms. Audette to describe the type of buffer she needs in the next few days, so they can get right to work on installing either a new row of shrubs or a privacy fence.

"In addition, Asplundh representatives have ... come up with improved notification guidelines and cards/door-hangers. This should help to prevent a miscommunication like this happening to another citizen in the future."

 

[pdqdl]

"Audette characterized the man's behavior as 'cocky.' "

Sounds like a typical tree guy talking to a typical homeowner. Why is that in the news?

 

[BC_Logger]

Easy to say, Asplundh does what the utility tells them to, so, why do you blame them? Do you know it was thier fault? I have worked lots of utility jobs, people screaming and crying, blaming the tree guys. Pathetic, we just do what Hydro asks.

the reason for my comment was that Ive had poor dealing with Asplundh.
I had a hydro rep come to my house informing me that the was going to be line clearing taking place. one of the maple on the property was going to be left standing but trimmed and reduction in the crown . when i came home that day it was left standing but they had all ready started the falling cuts
wedge was cut in and 1/2 the back cut :taped:

 

[hokiewheeler]

I've done permissioning for the local utility. Its very hard to deal with some people. They don't understand the clearance requirements and don't listen when you explain them. They think that if they tell you to just trim the pin oak that has grown between the primaries and holding up one end of their hammock (seriously), they will still have their tree. They don't realize that by trim, you mean reduce it to a spar 12' under the lines. No, it won't sprout back. That's an extreme case. Seems to me the power company is putting the heat on Asplundh for doing what was in the contract. No mention of whether a pole was close by scheduled for replacement, in which case the "brush" would need to be cleared. The contracts up here specify under 4" to be brush. Everybody hates on you when you're line clearance, almost as much as they hate on you when you work for .gov.