A Glendale couple dutifully trimmed their trees after getting a notice from the city about safe vertical clearance and overhang. $3,000 later, everything was trimmed and mission was seemingly accomplished. Then they were notified by the Glendale Neighborhood Services that they now owed a total of $347,600 for damaging protected indigenous trees, missing an important bit of small print requiring a proper permit.
Lesson to be learned: always read the fine print before trimming oak or sycamore branches larger than 1 inch in diameter. Read all the details here.
Totally whack!
view foodiegirl's profile
Oh for the love of GOD! If ever there were an argument for the idiocy that can only come from government.
view shari's profile
If there was ever a case to be made for oversized governments, this would be it.
Bad enough that one hand, the fire department, didn't know what the tree nazis would command on the other.
They should sue everyone, from the fire department, to the arborist, to the tree service. Seems litigation is the only thing that gets attention anymore.
view hdtex's profile
The tree trimmer who told them they don't need a permit and who used spiked shoes, etc. should be paying for the legal fees and whatever fines come back. Thank goodness common sense came into play.
If they're fined 10,000 dollars I'd still appeal on constitutional grounds. Excessive fines are prohibited by the Constitution. My dad got out of a 700 dollar jaywalking ticket that way in Pasadena.
view Marcelo's profile
I wish they would leave the nice couple alone. Isnt there something better the city could be doing with the resources they are wasting on this subject?
view slyvester's profile
The fees are rediculous and the contractor should pay for it as well. The fine print said they needed a permit. I felt bad when I read this in the paper the other day, but come on, it was in the notice. In the comments in the LATimes online, evidently many Glendale people go to OC tree trimmers to get their work done--the locals probably would know what to do, but cost more than the OC firms.
view kaanswfm's profile