City won't let us replace our parkway tree (vent)

[FINFAN]

As you know we live in the same town,Finfan.The trees in our front yard are under the power lines,so they were "sculpted" into an awkward,unattractive way.There's no thought of aesthetics-they just hack away.

dontcha love the "do as I say not as I do" imbalance of power here?

 

[mummabear]

So in our development the developers put trees along the verges in front of each house.
For our street they put them in the middle front lawn, when asked why they said they would grow too big for the verge.
Well thanks for plonking some giant tree in the middle of my yard

 

[Imzadi]

my DH is by the book so he is not on board for us slealthing in the middle of the night, lol...but if Mother Nature were involved, it's ok.

You're in Chicago. Surely, one last winter storm will happen. What if a huge section of the tree "coincidentally" came down during the storm?

 

[FINFAN]

You're in Chicago. Surely, one last winter storm will happen. What if a huge section of the tree "coincidentally" came down during the storm?

snowing as I type...one can hope. I mean, if we have to endure Spring ghosting us, hopefully we can get the benefit of tree removal with it.

 

[Imzadi]

snowing as I type...one can hope. I mean, if we have to endure Spring ghosting us, hopefully we can get the benefit of tree removal with it.

I say help it along. Put your son's Wrangler to use with a couple thick ropes that can "help" pull some branches down.

 

[AppleDumpling]

thing is, the part that we could get away with trimming, we need a cherry picker to reach. No tree service will do it because they know the law of not being allowed to trim them. At least the 8 different places we have tried have said that, including the one who we used to remove the other trees that was crowded out. They will only trim the skinny shoots that grow every spring. Really hoping for spring to help me out~ just might attach a lightening rod to it

Too bad. I can understand your frustration.

Maybe you could get a local politician to appeal to the town on your behalf? Sometimes, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and having connections with the right people helps.

Are there dead branches that could pose a hazard by falling on someone or on a car? That would be a legitimate safety issue that seems like they’d have to address.

 

[FINFAN]

Too bad. I can understand your frustration.

Maybe you could get a local politician to appeal to the town on your behalf? Sometimes, the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and having connections with the right people helps.

Are there dead branches that could pose a hazard by falling on someone or on a car? That would be a legitimate safety issue that seems like they’d have to address.

good suggestion. I have been pretty squeaky the last 3 years but I guess not squeaky enough. Even if I could get them to deal with questinable branches tho, they would maybe deal with the ones over the street and not over our yard/into neighbors tree, but it would be a start.

 

[Liberty Belle]

We don't have any trees in that area. Here in central Kentucky people call it an easement. Where I grew up in Michigan, it was called a treelawn.

 

[jevs]

Parkway is going in my how to speak American book for Aussies.

Your parkway is our nature strip. And yes we have similar tree issues as well. I believe roundup works well.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I believe roundup works well.

I've tried Roundup on the roots several years ago. Result----dead grass, tree is growing big as ever.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Does your town/city have control over your parkway tree? When we built our home we had no say so over the choice of parkway tree going in. The city stuck us with a honey locust. It's 25 year's old, massive, ugly , messy, clogs sewer drains and shades the entire front lawn from 11 am-3.We have already replaced the sidewalk in front from roots cracking it . It is growing over the sidewalk and half way up the lawn into our neighbors river birch along their driveway (to be fair, they do not have it trimmed back off our property line, look at me like a deer in headlights when I bring it up). Our neighbors tree is to the west side, shading our entire front lawn except for the last foot by the sidewalk~ all late afternoon into evening. Our town deems the tree healthy and in "fine shaping" thus not allowing us to replace it with a tree of smaller stature & smaller mature growth.The city only trims every 7 years and they declined my request to re-look at it for trimming again. We are not allowed to trim it back as the parkway is "city property" so we can't even catch a break there.The town has an acceptable tree list that you choose a replacement from and there are several that would be a vast improvement. The current tree is a detriment to our curb appeal as well.I am being held hostage by the town and it ticks me off. I just want some sun to reach our lawn. I pray every spring for a bolt of lightening to hit the dumb thing or for our neighbors to cut down their birch. We have already cut down one tree that the birch encroached on and over shaded. I can't put any flowers that need sun, our back yard faces N so limited choices there as well. It's depressing and claustrophobic. You drive down our street and everyone has beautiful emerald green, sunny lawns and then our place, looking like the Munster's dark and shady. We have neighbor's comment that it is the ugliest tree in the neighborhood, insinuating.."do something about it", and I can't! Been trying for 4 years. Ugggghhhhhhhhhh! It is just absolutely ridiculous that if a homeowner s willing to pay the cost of tree removal and replacement, choosing a tree from an approved list , that they cannot do so.

No, have never lived in an area that was THAT strict!

What is the fine for chopping it down? Are you willing to incur a penalty to solve the issue? That would be my choice of action IF I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted it down NOW! Also who would you hire? A company would need a permit, from the city to chop it down.

Can you hire a lawyer and pursue it that way? Can you donate money to someone "in government"? It seems as if that is how you get things done faster.

Honey Locusts are pretty tough trees and it will just get bigger. Impossible to poison without damaging the surrounding area and then it would be evident you did it. An arborist or me (LOL) would be able to figure that out in a NY minute.

Roundup is for VEGETATION above ground NOT BELOW for roots. (Horticulturist here.) Will do nothing but kill your grass. A root killer is called a drench. However you will be poisoning your soil, making a toxic "hot spot".

Good LUCK!

 

[blana]

Parkway is going in my how to speak American book for Aussies.

Be careful. That's not what it's called nation-wide. In NC, if you say Parkway people will assume you mean the Blue Ridge Parkway. https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

 

[Feralpeg]

The county controls the trees along the easement. They are ugly. They drop acorns and make a mess. Their roots break up the sidewalks. Yet, we can't remove or replace them. Sad situation.

 

[aprilgail]

Parkway is going in my how to speak American book for Aussies.

Your parkway is our nature strip. And yes we have similar tree issues as well. I believe roundup works well.

LOL- Parkway is what a highway is called in America- never heard it referred to as a small strip of property before! Typically its a term for a major highway.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Parkway is going in my how to speak American book for Aussies.

Your parkway is our nature strip. And yes we have similar tree issues as well. I believe roundup works well.

It's never been called a parkway here in my area of the middle of the country--it's easement to us.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

LOL- Parkway is what a highway is called in America- never heard it referred to as a small strip of property before! Typically its a term for a major highway.

lol..we don't refer to a highway as parkway either in my area--never heard of that either. It's a highway, seldomly expressway (there are highways here called expressways such as 18th street expressway), or an interstate.

ETA: Parkways to us are just roads in local terms..Blue Valley Parkway for example, etc. Some split off from the highways, etc. For example we have Shawnee Mission Parkway which is labeled as U.S. 56/69/169 only in certain places otherwise it's just Shawnee Mission Parkway..but no one thinks of that as a highway..because it's just a road with tons of stoplights, businesses, houses, etc that spans many cities rather than a highway that one would normally think of.

 

[jevs]

Be careful. That's not what it's called nation-wide. In NC, if you say Parkway people will assume you mean the Blue Ridge Parkway. https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/

LOL- Parkway is what a highway is called in America- never heard it referred to as a small strip of property before! Typically its a term for a major highway.

It's never been called a parkway here in my area of the middle of the country--it's easement to us.

Well gee thanks guys. I now have to divide my book into 50 chapters. So much extra work

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Well gee thanks guys. I now have to divide my book into 50 chapters. So much extra work

Sorry

 

[Kellykins1218]

the tree on the grass area between the sidewalk and the street (if your neighborhood has sidewalks) It is usually city owned yet the homeowner cares for it and can plant etc on it.

A tree in the devil strip

 

[The Mystery Machine]

LOL- Parkway is what a highway is called in America- never heard it referred to as a small strip of property before! Typically its a term for a major highway.

Not in my America...lol.

I would assume a "Parkway" is city/county property.