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10th Anniversary Retrospective: More about the SF tree maintenance program: A personal story

October 11, 2018 by Bonnee Waldstein

To celebrate the Glen Park Association Website turning ten years old, we are reposting some of our favorite stories from the last ten years.


It’s not often that you post a story of general interest and live it out yourself a couple of days later.  That’s what  happened with the post linking to the SF Chronicle story on confusion about the City’s tree maintenance program.  Here’s a link to the original Chronicle story.

I came home the other day, feeling pretty good about getting my flu shot and remembering to take my 20% discount coupons into Bed Bath and Beyond. Then I came upon an unexpected sight in front of my house.

With no warning, the tree between my and my neighbor’s house was being pruned by SF Public Works. Only a couple of years ago, we shared the cost ($800) for a professional arborist to trim the tree.  With the mantra “The Worst First” playing in my head, I approached Joseph, a SFPW worker, to find out why our tree was chosen for maintenance so soon.  It was neither dead nor failing, and it wasn’t encroaching on any power lines — some of the reasons street trees are given priority in the program.

As was described in the Chronicle, a detailed census has been done of the 125,000 street trees in the city.

You can enter your address and find your tree on this map. I found ours:

Joseph explained that the trees are tracked by a grid system. Neighbors are notified if a tree has been given priority for maintenance or removal.  If a crew is on a grid that has priority trees in it, they’ll check their lists to see what other trees on the grid might be listed for tending, since they’re in the area anyway. It’s more efficient than hopping back and forth to different areas to maintain a tree here and there.

This was the situation with our tree.  In comparison to many other trees, ours was kind of OK, but many branches were drooping due to their weight.  The lower hanging ones were blocking visibility to stop signs, and trucks were brushing against them as well.  I wasn’t aware of all these hazards; it took the vigilance of the tree crew to recognize them.

I went online to the SFPW website to see what I could find out about our tree, a New Zealand Christmas, common in SF and one of the recommended street trees by Friends of the Urban Forest. This page has a navigable grid map where you can find the trimming schedule for your tree.

Sure enough, I found our tree.

It’s in Prune Grid #228, in Active status, with an Estimated Prune of 2018.

If a resident prefers to maintain their tree/s privately, they can opt out of the city tree maintenance program through the 311 system.

In our case, we were very pleased with the results of our “surprise” tree trim, and the money it will save us in the future.

Just like the earlier part of my day, things were just falling into place.

 

 

 

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Join the Glen Park Association and help promote our community’s interests. Together, we can secure improvement funds, publicize neighborhood concerns and strive to speak as one voice on neighborhood and city issues.

Membership in the Glen Park Association is only $10 annually and can be purchased online.

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Glen Park Association
2 weeks ago
Glen Park Association

Meet one of the Greenway’s most diligent volunteers -- A Townsend Warbler as far as Google knows. Progress in removing invasive oxalis is going well, but work remains! As the sun comes out, please join us at the Glen Park Greenway Native Meadow (between Lippard and Brompton Streets) to carefully remove invasive oxalis plants. Email our oxalis remediation lead, Kathy Keller at greenway@glenparkassociation.org if you can help! ... See MoreSee Less

Meet one of the Greenway’s most diligent volunteers -- A Townsend Warbler as far as Google knows. Progress in removing invasive oxalis is going well, but work remains! As the sun comes out, please join us at the Glen Park Greenway Native Meadow (between Lippard and Brompton Streets) to carefully remove invasive oxalis plants. Email our oxalis remediation lead, Kathy Keller at greenway@glenparkassociation.org if you can help!
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Glen Park Association
2 weeks ago
Glen Park Association

Join us THURSDAY JANUARY 19 at the Glen Park Association Quarterly meeting. We'll be in-person at the Glen Park Rec. Center at 6:30 PM. Our agenda includes:

-- A special presentation from QuitCarbon,
-- Meeting the new owners of @canyonmarket ,
-- Learning more about projects at @sfrecpark & @sfpublichealth, and
-- Electing 2023 GPA officers.

Have you renewed your membership for 2023 yet? Help keep our neighborhood vital by joining today at www.glenparkassociation.org/glen-park-association-membership/
... See MoreSee Less

Join us THURSDAY JANUARY 19 at the Glen Park Association Quarterly meeting. Well be in-person at the Glen Park Rec. Center at 6:30 PM. Our agenda includes:

-- A special presentation from QuitCarbon, 
-- Meeting the new owners of @canyonmarket , 
-- Learning more about projects at @sfrecpark  & @sfpublichealth, and
-- Electing 2023 GPA officers.

Have you renewed your membership for 2023 yet? Help keep our neighborhood vital by joining today at https://www.glenparkassociation.org/glen-park-association-membership/
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Blog Roll

Coyote Yipps
Friends of Noe Valley Rec Center
Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project
Open SF History
Sunnyside Conservatory
Sunnyside History
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association
Tramps of San Francisco
Upper Noe Neighbors

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