The Maple Tree in Question
"If you follow the order, you get in trouble. If you don't follow the order, you get in trouble," he said.
The city manager said orders from health officials were referring to high weeds on Mallozzi's lot, not the tree.
"We never direct private property owners to maintain or manage private property. That's our responsibility," O'Brien said.
Worcester officials posted notices on the tree and began an investigation. They said Mallozzi destroyed public property, and they slapped him with a hefty fine.
"(The fine for this tree) is $6,800 to replace the tree," Mallozzi said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/wcvb/20070203/lo_wcvb/10915824
The Maple Tree in Question
It's his tree!
He can cut it down if he wants to, right?
What????
The solution is to run enough people for city council so you can take it over and change the law. Fire the city manager while you are at it. This solution works 100% of the time.
Only in Taxachusetts. Not surprising. Look at their two "Gong Show contestant" US Senators.
So much for the definition of the words "PRIVATE Property".
It's not just Massachusetts, sad to say. The city of Greensboro, NC has an "arborist" on staff. They'll fine you if you trim your crepe myrtles the "wrong" way in an historic district, in your own yard.
You folks need to read the article.
Unless I am misreading it (and I live in Massachusetts, so I have heard a little more about it) the tree was NOT on the person's property, it was at the EDGE of his propery but not on it. It was on CITY land.
What he did was wrong. He deserved to be fined. If it was on his property, fine. He can do what he wishes. But is was not, and that changes everything. It is being portrayed as the government telling the guy what he can do with property he owns, and it is nothing like that.
But,
Here is a Businessman trying to make it better, yet layers of ambiguous over regulation (snob zoning & Mass. Socialism) at the city level has this man in a state of flux. It wouldn't surprise me if some business friendly state makes an overture to this entrepreneur to "Come on Down!"
This is not the 1st I heard of this. In another MA. town I heard of a young lad that rather than getting an approval from some Eco-Board said screw you, its on my property and cut a tree down. He got called in and fined. They don't know, that they don't know they are loosing their freedom.
As the denizens of communist states have learned at the price of much pain since the days of Lenin, commissars are NOT there to help you; commissars are there to enjoy ego trips, push their weight around, and exult in making life difficult. This is what happens when the constitution is shredded, state socialism is established, and the concept of property rights becomes meaningless. Soon coming to your town.
It was not his tree. The right of way of roads in most cities includes the pavement, the land between the road and the sidewalk (called the tree lawn in some places), the sidewalk, and a few inches beyond the sidewalk belong to the city. If you look up in city records, they will tell you the width of the street is much bigger than the pavement. Your property begins at the surveyor's stakes (if any), which is where the right of way ends.
It is not your tree. The sidewalk isn't yours, either, but cities will still make you maintain it for them, but they don't wan't you messing with their trees. But you do have to cut their grass. Odd set of rules that make you responsible for everything but the tree. And that is the thing that can rot out and kill you.
This guy's maple was on the way out if his photos are correct. Most of the large limbs appeared to be hollow. He should have kept bugging the city to remove the tree before it killed someone. Ask for something in writing from the city that says the property owner is not responsible if the dangerous tree falls on someone. That usually gets them moving. The guy probably has an attorney. He should have let him bug the city.
Worst. Tree. Ever.
One of her cedar trees died several years ago, and it was just over seven inches diameter. I made sure it wasn't too large, because we aren't allowed to cut dead trees, unless all the bark is gone. A protected bird, the golden cheeked warbler, uses the bark for it's nests.
Smaller trees can be cut without a permit. If I had any such cedar trees, they would already be gone. My neighbor still has two live cedar trees left between our homes. Each year, I have to trim the limbs off my roof.
Couldn't the city just order a new one from Burpees' for $29.99?
Big government is injurious to private property. More so in the people's republic of massachusets.
Come again!!??
Is the tree rooted on his property or not?
If the tree was not on his property, it did not belong to him and he had no right to touch it.
Looks like an invasive species to me. Sue the city government for not protecting the environment and hampering compliance with federal regulations.
Massachusetts is a nice audio-visual aid for previewing the kind of secular-socialist tyranny the scumbag Democrats want for America. Of course, the voters of Massachusetts deserve exactly what they elect. I only hope enough of America still has the brains and personal integrity to prevent America from becoming one big Massachusetts (or California, or New Jersey, or.... France).
Creeping socialism never seems to creep backwards, and the biggest problem may be what Ann Coulter called "this country's rash experiment with women's suffrage." Well, the genie is out of that bottle and I hope it doesn't end up destroying America.