Neighbor's tree(s) a serious problem for me... please help!

[lxskllr]

Squirrels run across my roof to get to the other side of the property. They can get from the road to somewhere past the rear property line without ever touching the ground. 200'+

 

[paperfist]

I can’t imagine even the neighbors like that tree. There must be bird poop all over your cars. I’d be careful trimming it, with the angle the branches are at it’s likely the will bind up the pole saw. In NY it’s not that expensive to get trees cut down or trimmed. Well worth keeping your own limbs over.

 

[Muse]

That dead tree in front (noted higher up in this thread), its branches have been falling the last couple weeks or so. I moved my car further back in the driveway to protect it from damage from that tree. I wonder if the property owner has an obligation to remove that tree. I really have to go to the Berkeley city pages and read the regulations. I think they post them there, mostly. Don't know the purview, what's state vs. county vs. city.

 

[NutBucket]

City is what matters in this case....unless there are no regulations. That seems highly unlikely though.

 

[Greenman]

City is what matters in this case....unless there are no regulations. That seems highly unlikely though.

In Berkeley? I'd bet there is a book of regulations on how and when you can trim trees. And a matching price list of city fees involved.

 

[NutBucket]

Oh, I agree. I just didn't want to get into P&N outside of P&N

 

[Muse]

Oh, I agree. I just didn't want to get into P&N outside of P&N

Yeah, Berkeley makes me nervous (and I've lived here almost 50 years).

 

[paperfist]

Seems like you can just email them and ask:

Tree Pruning or Removal Information - City of Berkeley, CA

lol they’ll send out a forestry ranger.

Might fall under nuisance law with the wires being so close:

Title 12 Health and Safety | Berkeley Municipal Code

www.codepublishing.com

 

[Muse]

Seems like you can just email them and ask:

Tree Pruning or Removal Information - City of Berkeley, CA

lol they’ll send out a forestry ranger.

Might fall under nuisance law with the wires being so close:

Title 12 Health and Safety | Berkeley Municipal Code

www.codepublishing.com

The dead tree in front is very very close to the sidewalk and would, I think, be deemed a hazard to people on the sidewalk. The other trees, well there's wires in them but I think they are legacy now because they aren't active telephone wires. I'm calling my internet provider, Sonic.net to see if they'll intervene and have AT&T remove those wires. They were carrying my DSL until my fiber install a couple months ago. I kind of think AT&T will have to remove the wires. They go all the way across the street to their cables on the poles. I certainly can't be expected to service that or pay someone else to do it, is my thinking.

 

[Muse]

A few days ago I did a rough cut-up of the large branch of ailing plum tree and while there was still some twilight I cut off one branch of one of the neighbor's trees. None of my windows broke in the process. I could barely reach the branch with the pole saw extended. That branch is sitting in the driveway.

The apartment building gets occasional service of a small Asian team of gardeners who come in a truck and whir around the place with gas powered machines. I signaled to them that the tree in front is dead and needs removing. They said they'd do that but it seems their English is limited to 25 words if that. Have no idea what language they communicate in among themselves. Somehow I communicated to them that the trees reaching my house are a problem and they indicated that they'd tell the owner and would take care of it. I have no idea what if anything will come of that. Meantime I'm parking on the street.

I called AT&T yesterday in an attempt to get them to remove their wires going through those trees. That would make many tree trimmers nervous, obviously. They are probably not powered, but who knows? They were in use until ~2 months ago when I stopped getting DSL/phone through the copper wires and had fiber installed. The fiber doesn't go through the trees.

It took me fully an hour (probably more) to navigate AT&T and finally get a person who presumably set up a possible provision to have the wires removed. Presumably I'll get a call from an AT&T repair person who will schedule something. Better believe I'm not holding my breath. At one time I was an AT&T customer. I went over to Sonic.net, who used AT&T lines to provide DSL/phone, and Sonic was 20x easier to deal with in terms of any kind of customer service. I pity anybody who is a customer of AT&T, especially if they are a residential customer. Their CS is brutal.

 

[Micrornd]

I pity anybody who is a customer of AT&T, especially if they are a residential customer. Their CS is brutal.

I didn't think they had customer service after 1982