LETTERS: CITY GOES TOO FAR IN CUTTING TREE LIMBS

To the editor:

Speaking of trees, did you know:

1. Any citizen or city employee can complain about your tree limbs hanging over the street, and you are not notified. You are not important.

2. Without anyone in authority in the Cape public works department verifying the complaint, a street crew may cut down any limbs to the trunk they deem necessary to satisfy the complaint. Your property has no value.

3. The men cutting the trees are street crews (pot holes and sidewalks) on a day off from street maintenance. There is no official tree-cutting crew.

4. The crews do not knock on your door, call you or give you time to fix the problem yourself, even though Article II, Section 24-42, Page 1,526 of the Cape Girardeau Code on Streets and Sidewalks states: "(g)Removal of limbs, branches. All limbs and branches of trees along streets shall be removed to a reasonable height by the abutting property owner under the direction of the street foreman, and any not so removed after 30 days's notice directing such removal shall be removed at the expense of the property owner." Even the police will ticket a derelict car prior to towing it away. You are not given that courtesy.

5. If any part of your tree is on the city right-of-way, you have no recourse. You are powerless.

6. There are no written tree-trimming standards for the crews to follow. This means no limb height requirements, no limitations on the number of limbs removed, no tree aesthetic value considered. You end up with lopsided trees. No one cares. No one can fix it. The damage is done.

In our case, 35 limbs were cut off four trees (two of them 35-year-old oaks) in front of our house when no one was home on Sept. 30 in response to a complaint from a street sweeper. We think this was excessive. The street foreman did not see the work order which only has the address and not the offending trees listed. The highest limb cut is approximately 18 feet up. That's a mighty big street sweeper.

Mayor Al Spradling, city councilman, Mike miller and Doug Leslie: Our home an its appearance are important to us. We worked hard for what we have. As young children we were taught to respect other's property. If the shoe were on the other foot, we think you would be as upset as we are. We worry about power abuses, even small ones. This raises questions about how our city government is being managed.

BECKY and RICHARD CROW

Cape Girardeau