Another One of City of Ludington John Shays F-ups

[Ftcolmick]

Frustrating! 2 perfectly healthy trees being cut down by the city because he my neighbor doesn't want to clean up the leaves and pods it drops in the fall. He admitted to us he did it because he was mad the city wouldn't pick up his leaves in the spring after being gone over the winter. So I guess if we don't want to rake our leaves the city will cut the trees down.

[XLFD]

Thanks for your post Ftcolmick, and welcome to the Ludington Torch. 

A couple I know had similar problems this spring, where they had a lot of leaves left over from last year primarily because the 'fall' came late, and when the scheduled leaf pickups took place, there were still a lot of leaves on the trees.  They were harassed by the City because they had some leaves still at the curbside this spring.  The late fall can be shown with this graphic:

 

 

Which shows as late as 10-14-2013, the fall color in our neck of the woods was moderate, meaning that there were still plenty of colored leaves on trees.  This link shows that leaf pick-up began on that day (10-14) by the Ludington DPW.  This meant a lot of people (particularly in the northwest side of the city) still had leaves to deal with after the scheduled pickup.

Perhaps it would be a good policy for the city to have some extra flexibility with the schedules in the fall if the trees don't cooperate with the calendar.  As noted in another recent thread, the DPW generally acts under the direction of city management, and your frustration on John Shay is actually very well directed in this case. 

[Johnny]

Its crazy the things you people will cry about.  Get off your butts and do something to contribute to the city.  If you are unable to like some people, who just file lawsuits to have some sort of income, then move to a different city.  Lets look at the big picture here.  You are upset because the city is cutting down a tree at your neighbors residence right now.  It is possible he asked the city to cut them and has to pay for the services, if its the money you are so worried about.  

[XLFD]

Ftcolmick and Stump points taken together is something that should be of interest to the civic minded.  Did the City of Ludington crew that cut down these two trees using public resources of the city and hours of their publicly-paid wages do the deed properly?

To whit, if they were not paid by the neighbor to take down two trees on the neighbor's property (not right-of-way (ROW)), then why was the City's taxpayers effectively picking up the bill? 

Or, if they were cutting down trees in the public ROW and yet sent a bill to the neighbor for services, why are they getting effectively paid twice for the work? 

If our city management was reliable, ethical, and competent, neither of the two scenarios would have likely taken place.  But that is not the case, and so it becomes ripe for public discussion.

[stump]

I didn't know our city had this service available. I have a tree that is in real bad shape and is leaning over my garage. I don't have the funds to have it removed by a professional or even a non-professional tree service. I will check with the city to see if they can help me out. I pay enough taxes, maybe I'll get a return on them.

[XLFD]

Tree and tree limb cutting is part of their responsibilities, but they probably won't do it as a 'free' service unless the tree is in a public right-of-way.  If the tree is totally on your private property, you may be out of luck with getting them to help, but let me know what answer you get.

In general, the City deems the property owner responsible for trimming trees to prevent them from growing over the sidewalk, so I believe you're probably on your own, unless you bat your eyelashes at the proper folks.

[AQUAMAN]

Hey stump, haven't heard from ya in a while, welcome. I do hope the COL helps in this regard, don't hold your breath. Maybe Johnny has time like he does here spying in the afternoons...lol. Here's another idea if not. Place a classified or ask some campfire sellers and see if they are interested in the wood for free if they cut it down and remove all of it. What kind of tree? Maple, beech, and oak are always desirable, not so much pine or sappy woods.