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PG&E contractor trashes garden

June 18, 2015

tree 1OPINION By PEG PINARD

A few days ago I received a call from Manuel, from Davey Tree Co., saying that they would be trimming the palm trees away from the power lines on Broad Street. This was not unusual as they had done this before. From past experience we have witnessed how PG$E interprets their  legal  “right” to  “clear” to mean destroying whatever they want in the name of ‘clearing the area around the power lines.

When they did this a while ago, they also destroyed a number of owl’s nests. The loss of those natural predators resulted in a huge spike in the rat population in the neighborhood. But I digress…

When I got Davey’s call I was prepared to have the trees butchered again. I replied, “Thanks for letting me know, but please be careful not to get the debris in my garden.” He assured me they would be careful.

Well, this is what they did. Davey forgot to set out the “do not park” barricades on the street necessary for parking their vehicles – which they have always done before. Being close to downtown, on-street parking fills up early with downtown employees.

When Davey came to “trim” the trees, instead of realizing their mistake in forgetting to set our their ‘no parking’ barricades, and coming back another day, they made a decision to double-park their vehicle in the middle of Broad Street, leaning their bucket out over the parked cars (surely this is not in accord with city regulations and safety concerns).

They then proceeded to throw all the very heavy palm fronds and debris into my yard. If you’ve ever lifted one of these fronds you know how heavy they are and that they are not going to land in a garden without doing quite a bit of damage.

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I was shocked to see the Davey employee deliberately hurling the fronds onto my property. I ran out to tell him to stop and he refused! I had to call the police in order to get him to stop and, even then, he didn’t do so until the officer actually arrived.

While there was lots of damage to my fruit trees, and other plants in my garden, I think the maliciousness with which the Davey company acted was beyond comprehension. It was pretty obvious that they figured that it would be easier to mouth the words “sorry” rather than act responsibly and respectfully.

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The solution to not having done the proper preparation was so simple, just put up the signs and come back tomorrow – that the willful maliciousness of their decision is particularly reprehensible. For any understanding gardeners out there, know that I had just spent weeks doing my garden “spring cleaning” and tending to the plants…and, at my age, it isn’t so easy to do anymore.

It took them nearly six hours to finish getting those fronds out of there. Besides this being an incredibly upsetting situation, I then had to hire a gardener to try and salvage the damage to the landscape.

I can’t help but reflect on what this says about Davey’s corporate mentality and bottom-line greed. I’m sure they wouldn’t want this to happen to their home, or have their families treated this way…but, somehow they determined this was alright to do to someone else.

The whole fiasco was absolutely destructive and so utterly unnecessary.

Over 30 years ago, the city realized this conflict of power lines with mature trees was going to be a problem, and we started an under-ground utility program. Funds were even set aside for its implementation. The under-grounding program was very specific in that it designated the program would start with the most impacted areas…basically starting with the older neighborhoods with the mature trees. New developments would be required to underground their utilities as a condition of development. What ever happened to the program and the money?

By not following-through, the city ensured that incident’s like the Graduate’s palm trees fiasco and this kind of damage and disrespectful treatment to city residents would likely occur.

Peg Pinard is a former San Luis Obispo County supervisor and mayor of San Luis Obispo.

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Oh the savagery and the outrage. Somebody has too much time on her hands. Pick up the fronds, then keep calm and carry on. A nation of sissies.


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What’s she supposed to do with all that c–p if she does pick it up? It will not all fit in a green waste can, so what’s she supposed to do, rent a truck and haul it to the dump and pay to dump it? Your comment is beyond dumb. Maybe you have some score to settle with Peg? If not, you need a lesson in common decency and compassion.


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You are right about her options but Peg has done and said some things that have turned people against her. (Her recent critique of public art near her house was petty at best.) I was initially skeptical when I saw she authored this opinion piece but read it with a mostly open mind. The pictures were enough to convince me that she had a case.


I just wish people could get past the politics of someone when evaluating their opinions. A history of lying may be enough to justify automatic skepticism but it is not right or fair to judge all their opinions based upon the “liberal” or “conservative” labels. Most people have some mix of both and not all issues need to be politically labelled in any case. I often wonder whether it is media brainwashing or simply a reluctance to spend any time actually thinking about an issue that makes people adopt rote, simplistic attitudes toward everything.


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QUOTING OTHER HAND: “You are right about her options but Peg has done and said some things that have turned people against her.”


———————–


How desperate are you to make a point? Whether or not someone is angry with the homeowner has nothing to do with whether PG&E and Dave Tree Company should pay the homeowner for the destruction of the property.


Quit blaming the victim already.


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Actually, what you need is a lesson in self sufficiency. Chop up the fronds, and compost them. By the way, I don’t know Peg so how could I have a score to settle? Assume much?


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Ok. We got one side of the story from an anti-Diablo flaming liberal (correct me if I am wrong here). As an intelligent observer (that’s what others probably think of me, not my opinion) I noticed in the picture that the palm fronds are DIRECTLY BELOW THE PALM TREES! Kind of shoots the hole in the theory that they “threw” the palm fronds into her yard.


Ok. Now that I got that off my chest, please be aware that trees touching power lines can be deadly, not just a nuisance to power distribution. I personally saw a bamboo tree in Hawaii hit a high voltage line on a wet and windy day. It was like a lightening strike. If you were near it on the ground the chances of getting electrocuted are high. Don’t stand or camp under high voltage lines, especially if you notice trees that could touch the lines.


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JMO,


The term of you as an alleged intelligent observer to the outcome of this situation is questionable to say the least. The bottom line is the end result as shown, whether or not the palm fronds were thrown or dropped, of which in either case, the aftermath is not acceptable.


Correct me if I am wrong, but would a right wing-nut like yourself be as upset as Peg Pinard was if this situation happened to their prized garden?


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Why the need for the name calling? I disagree with his opinion that she should not be upset, but, there is no need for that.


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mbbizpro,


You are correct, JMO shouldn’t have used the term “flaming liberal.”


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And of course you had to sink to the lowest common level with him.


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OK, JMO, now we have your right-wing nutjob clown-car reufge greedhead dumbass flaming conservative (correct me if I’m wrong) opinion… “Intelligent observer”???…HAHaHaHa!


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Oh, another red-herring job from JMO.


The issue isn’t whether or not the fronds near the electrical/phone lines should have been removed.


The issue is the destruction to the landscape of the homeowner by PG&E and its contractor, Davey Tree Company.


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And in other news, the street sweeper missed a spot over off Higuera and a car honked. Oh, and a kid somewhere blew through a stop sign on his bike–might even have been an adult riding on of those $3,000 racing bikes.


You know life is good when this is all you have to write about.


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Peg, I was in the line clearance business for many years. Here is what you need to do. First call 1(800) PGE-5000 and demand to speak with Steve Tankersly. They probably won’t let you but at leave a message demanding he call you. He is the head of most of PGE’s vegetation management program. Call Davey in Livermore and speak with Howard Bowles or Larry Evans who runs a lot of Davey on the West coast at (925) 443-1723. Then call Davey Resource Group who does all the pre-inspection for the trimmers and ask for the number of Bill Evans who supervises the tree crews in this area. You can also ask for Larry Sarina who is Bill’s supervisor. What they did is unacceptable and if make those calls, you will get a response. This will start a s..t storm if you make the calls I suggested. PGE especially does not like calls going to the top but that’s what you do if you want action.


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That sounds like excellent advice from someone who knows what they are talking about. Good job.


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Standup, I think I love you =)


Great post!


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Thank you very much for your helpful information. I followed your advice and was able to connect with representatives who were very responsive. Had Davey just remembered to put out the ‘no parking’ cones they could have simply thrown the fronds street-side as they had done in the past. Hopefully, this incident will save others from having the same thing happen to them.

Again, thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Peg


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Sincerely hope PG&E is soliciting bids from other tree trimming companies if this is indicative of Davey’s service. There are some very good ones out there, and even if they’re a few $ more, you can’t put a price on goodwill.


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Oh yes you can put a price on goodwill — particularly if you are a monopoly or nearly so as PG&E is. I won’t dump on their lower or middle level workers but their upper management is as arrogant, greedy and unethical as any other major corporation in the energy business and that is an industry flush with such companies. The only industries worse are big finance and communications companies.


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Otherhand, good points. The worst, of course, is Apple. Don’t you agree?


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PG&E employees used to do this work. Contracting out is much cheaper. And keep in mind that if PG&E cuts costs they don’t get to put that money in their pocket. Their profits are regulated by the State as are their rates. The PUC wants rates down, PG&E wants profits up. Contracting out achieves both. When utilities were guaranteed a flat 12% return on investment they threw money away like the government. Back in the day there were whitewall ties on service trucks. Why? Do want to make 12% on a $20 tire or a $30 tire? 12% on $10/hr wages or $15/hr? But not everyone’s Peg and for many the electricity bill is a big chunk. As to the rats; they live in the palm trees with the owls nests. Owls do not hunt them in the trees as they do not hunt like cats, they hunt like raptors. I once had 100 Mexican Fan palms trimmed that had not been trimmed for years due to cost. I got a great price for the property owners. The next few weeks in the entire neighborhood were like “Willard”, rats in yards and houses – everywhere, traps, exterminators…


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I recommend you file a claim for your losses. If you are not satisfied, then I’d sue both Davy and PG&E.


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A tree crew probably costs $300/hour. If they stopped every time a neighbor threatened to call the cops, the costs to all of us would be enormous.


Now, Peg, put on your big girl pants and submit a claim to PGE for the damage done.


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At that price, one would expect the crew to act like a professional, not a dismantler.


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I know what tree service I won’t give my money to.


To keep doing it until the police said stop is just unprofessional. When you walked out and told them to stop they should have no questions asked.


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The problem is if you are a PG&E customer you are giving your money to Davey, via PG&E. Davey only cares about who pays them and in this case it is PG&E, and PG&E doesn’t care about us, just ask the folks in San Bruno.


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Maybe the workers didn’t understand or speak English.

That was my first thought.


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So your first thought was about race?


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The commenter is talking about being able to communicate with the workers themselves. If the workers didn’t speak or understand English, then they may not have understood Pinard’s requests.


Is that really so difficult to understand, Kettle?


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Kettle’s response was based on an unreasonable assumption. However, tree crews do need at least one person on them with reasonable English fluency for various reasons and I doubt that this one was missing that. Either they have some bad employees or they are giving their employees bad directions.


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