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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.

tree 2

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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The tree trimmer, obviously, would not dare enter her yard with all that noisy yapping. Was she muzzled or put away long enough for the crew to finish their job?


If the real case is that the crew left the debris in her yard and thought they were done with the job, then they are in the wrong. More likely, though, they were fearful of entry and couldn’t finish the job.


Hoisted by her own petard, and looking for sympathy, is my conclusion.


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Has anyone ever cut down a tree? The debris falls and always looks terrible when it does. It appears no structures were hit. Obviously the company had not yet cleaned the debris when the pics were taken. Why would they enter the property when someone was screaming at them and threatening to call police? It appears that the palm trees are on her property. Had she properly maintained the trees tne contractor would not have been there doing it free of charge to her. Had the trees not been trimmed they posed a safety hazard as well as the ability to create a power outage. Where are the pics from after the cleanup? How much damage was there after that? Perhaps civil communications with the crew would have permitted them to tell her how to file a claim after having a chance to assess the damage. Seems to me like a huge over reaction by a property owner that failed to trim her own trees, possibly out of her misguided decision to protct somw owls.


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It sounds like PG&E contracted on the cheap and didn’t specify that the work be done by a Certified Arborist.


Certified Arborists would NOT let those fronds and other large, heavy trimmings fall onto a landscape.


If Davey Tree Company does not employ Certified Arborists for their lead workers, that is disregard for the homeowner’s property and, if it was me, I would demand restitution for the damage done and for plant material replacement.


If Davey Tree company does employ Certified Arborists for their crew leaders, then PG&E should dump Davey Tree company, like right now. In addition, the homeowner should report the issue to the International Society for Arboriculture (http://www.isa-arbor.com/certification/index.aspx) so the ISA can review the situation and, if there are similar prior incidents, yank their certification.


No matter how much PG&E saves by getting tree-trimming services on the cheap, the lawsuits they receive will overwhelm any savings.


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Davey Tree is a national firm and has been in business since the 1800s. I am certain that they have more qualifications and higher levels of insurance coverage than most.


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The only reason that Peg actually got the police to respond is because she was a Supervisor. They would have shrugged off most everyone else. She can file a claim for damages or take Davey Tree to small claims court.


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What a mess! I sure hope the contractor comes back today and cleans, it up and puts it all straight!!


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So, is Manuel an employee, or an independent contractor?


Is he aware of local laws and procedures?


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The trees do look to be on private property and several of the fronds on the ground look dead, so for safety would not have been removal the property owners responsibility? So a dead frond would not have fallen onto the street and struck someone walking by?


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Dead palm fronds do not necessarily fall to the ground. It is the responsibility of the tree crew to collect and dispose of what they bring down no matter who hires them unless they have been specifically told that someone else will take care of it. (i.e. a homeowner who has another use for them)


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So I guess those times that I see a fallen frond at the bottom of a palm tree it didn’t fall on it own, someone climbed the tree and cut off just one frond and let it fall to the ground……? Just glad no one was walking under that tree when that person was at the top of the tree cutting fronds.


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Kayaknut, good one. I like how Otherhand is bright enough to point out that dead palm fronds do not necessarily fall to the ground. I guess Otherhand thinks they float or something.


Thanks Peg for the entertainment. Can’t wait for your next opinion piece. Maybe it will be “Trash Collector Didn’t Return My Recycle Bin Close Enough To the Curb So I Called The Police”.


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The way I understand Otherhand’s post, it implied “Dead palm fronds do not necessarily fall to the ground” ON THEIR OWN. Sometimes workers remove palm fronds, sometimes the wind knocks them down.


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Ted, you never cease to amaze me. How does the public benefit from this? Can they change power companies due to the shoddy treatment of PGE? Did we learn anything about avoiding this problem? No, it is not a public service to publish articles about things such as this. We all deal with these types of issues, from over/mistake billing by utilities, to property damage committed by contractors and more. Most of us deal with it and move on.


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mbbizpro,


Read between the lines, PG&E used “Davey Tree Company.” Now, do the additional math. Thank you.


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Chapter and verse please. Your only qualification is the strict interpretation of God’s word.


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Whether it is trivial or not depends upon the degree of the damage experienced and the means of an individual to absorb such damage. Peg Pinard has the means but the damage here was not trivial.


I am no more willing to give big companies a pass on bad or abusive behavior than I am to give it to government. And use of an intermediary company to shield oneself from liability or public criticism is not excusable either. I understand the motive for contracting out such services (I once ran a business that did so myself) but if the contracting company can’t maintain a level of civil and socially acceptable behavior for whatever reason, they shouldn’t be in the business and they should be given the boot if such activities persist.


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It’s not an “article.” It is an “opinion.” Your clue should have been the “OPINION” at the top of the article, which is on every “opinion” published by CCN.


Whether or not you agree with the homeowners opinion has nothing to do with whether or not it should be published.


In addition, how YOU respond to an issue of landscape destruction by PG&E and its contractor, Davey Tree Company has nothing to do with how others will respond to the same issue.


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This all seems like a pre-conditioned response. She braced these men with “you better not get anything in my yard” to bellowing “I’m calling the cops” so no wonder these guys didn’t give a rats patootie about your whining.


Try being nice for a minute. You’re past life didn’t train you to interact with humans!


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Troll. It just wasn’t your garden, so you don’t give “a rats patootie.”


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I see. The victim in this interaction is actually PG&E and Davey Tree company for the destruction of the homeowner’s landscape by PG&E and Davey Tree company?


Don’t your recognize this as “blaming the victim”?


If you have to sink to blaming the victim to make your point, then you are simply showing how weak your argument is.


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So the resident was notified of trimming service to be done (notice the trees are in HER yard) and the palm trees were trimmed at no cost to the resident??


Just pick up the damn leaves and keep to yourself.


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No, I understand her anger and she should deal directly with PG&E for reimbursement for damages. I don’t understand why calcoastnews published her letter though. Far from a newsworthy event or a public service.


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mbbizpro,


PG&E doing this deed, and the ramifications thereof, isn’t part and parcel to the overall betterment of the community in a public service sense?


Your statment is under the guise of “hey, it didn’t happen to me, so why are others so upset?”


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I SO agree with you, Ted.


Aren’t there any Biblical quotes about if someone damages another person’s property, then they must be enslaved until they have paid off the cost of damages?


In Leviticus, I believe, is one example.


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IT IS NOT A LETTER. The “OPINION” at the top of the piece (and at the top of every opinion piece published by CCN) should have been a clue.


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