Posted on 04/04/2026 7:40:50 AM PDT by Bon of Babble
The city of San Francisco slapped a longtime property owner with a $50,000 fine for trimming the trees right outside his home.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Trees. The FPL will send crews to trim the trees, not the lines. Sheesh.
I suspect the fine was assessed because the city wanted the job to go to a union, and the $50K was the expected kickback to the city for the job.
The city does maintain the trees.
What was the original penalty, it wasn’t $50,000, the story is a valid story but the headline and writing is about half clickbait and stirring passions instead of reporting news to those of us who are just looking for news information.
I found some other articles. Every one said $50,000.
e city’s stance on the severity of the damage shifted following an administrative hearing. A senior inspector determined the trees might recover, though with compromised structures. The city also offered to reduce the fine to $12,950, or $2,590 per tree.
On Wednesday, Public Works confirmed it would further reduce the penalty to $6,475, provided Dennes hired a certified arborist to oversee a five-year recovery plan for the trees.
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Found one that someone had a $4,500 fine for over pruning two trees.
Tell the SF Public Works Director: Don’t punish Ambrosia Bakery with a $4,500 fine
I understand that. I was replying to another poster who mentioned his own trees being close to power lines.
General rule of thumb is if something is in the right of way best to keep hands off before getting o.k. from whatever city or county department has jurisdiction. It can get frustrating when there are multiple departments involved and you know you could get it done right in short time. But there are usually hefty fines involved. The best way to speed things along is to mention to a higher up the possibility of city liability that could result from their non-action. A broken city sidewalk comes to mind.
The $50,000 includes non-payment penalties.
I believe the original fine was $50k, which the city then lowered after it removed the trees:
“The trimming ultimately forced five trees to be removed, the city said, resulting in a fine of $10,000 each.”
And:
“We will cut the reduced fine in half, to $6,475, if the property owner follows through with a pruning plan, requiring that the property owner brings in a certified arborist to properly prune the impacted trees over the next five years,”
Obviously $6,475 is not 1/2 of $10k - but that’s the way math is done in San Francisco.
“Dennes said his family has owned the home since 1988 and that he’s never seen the city trim the trees, which he assumed were on his property.”
My daughter has lived in that exact neighborhood for 10 years. I asked her if she’d ever seen tree trimmers come out and she said no - and she works from home.
“The city used to mandate that homeowners to trim trees outside their property but took over that duty in 2017, allocating more than $19 million annually towards tree maintenance.”
That’s nine years and no one one had trimmed the trees.
“””””I believe the original fine was $50k, which the city then lowered after it removed the trees”””””
I think you are right, I misread this “”But the city began fining him in December of last year, resulting in a whopping $50,000 in penalties.””.
Here is a better article on the fines, and a better article period.
https://abc7news.com/post/san-francisco-property-owner-fined-50000-public-works-illegally-pruning-trees-cited-insurer/18823757/
Cruel and unusual punishment. Retarded too in San Fran Sicko.
Paradise, CA was totally destroyed by fire. Permits were needed to cut any tree. Most houses could not be seen from the roadway because of the trees. Two movies were made about that fire. The latest one is “The Lost Bus”.
Daughter and husband had big house on 10 acres for the two of them. Planted lots of flowers and some veggies. Couldn’t have children so got four dogs. I loved driving up to see them in Republican Idaho. THEN some new people overpaid for several nice Idaho houses and moved in.
Developers, of course. Bribed City Council to allow 5-acre plots. Then husband died, turbo cancer from the $%!$#% clot shot, and she moved into town. Got xlnt price for Idaho house. House here in Spkane is in nice enough neighborhood, has big yard for dogs and is very close too me. But it’s NOT a rural area and she and the dogs are unhappy about that. She bought a nice camper and she and her dogs and a few friends take weekend or longer trips here and there.
I sit home, bite nails and play with beloved Daisy Cat who hates dogs and campers. And so it goes.
Ghastly. So sorry that happened to you.
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