Towse: views from the hill

November 18, 2007

Cypresses redux

Filed under: causes,life,politics — Tags: , , — Towse @ 5:50 pm
 

Another shot of the post-pruning cypresses.

 

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Click on the picture to get a better look. Some of the parrots were back yesterday to check out the pruned trees. They stayed longer than they usually do before heading off.

November 15, 2007

The cypress grove on Telegraph Hill before, during, after.

As promised, befores and afters.

BEFORE: (18 Jul 2004)
[note: added another before: Dec 2003]

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I rummaged through my photo bins to find photos of the trees as they were. These two show the north and south ends of the cypress grove on 18Jul2004. Imagine, if you will, a large clump of green between what these two photographs show.

I obviously didn’t take a lot of shots of the trees standing alone.

DURING: (October 2004)

Later that year, in October, a large chunk of tree came down.

In October 2005, another tree was taken out before Mark threw himself between the trees and the tree cutters and successfully halted the project.

We all know the result: a Landmark Tree ordinance. After much negotiation, in February 2007 the City agreed to indemnify the remaining trees’ owner from any liability arising from the fact he wasn’t allowed to take the “rotten” (his description) trees down.

The City also agreed “to hire a special arborist who has the skill to delicately prune the trees and preserve them for at least three years — long enough for new ones to grow to shelter the parrots. The two trees are all that remain from what was once a larger grove.” [n.b. Three years to grow trees this tall? Really?]

The Northeast San Francisco Conservancy (president: Nancy Shanahan) pledged $5,000 to the City to cover the cost of pruning and care.

BEFORE: (December 2003)

 
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AFTER: (15 Nov 2007)

 

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What can we see that’s different? (Gee, this is like those picture puzzles: find six ways this picture is different from the ones above.)

In 2004, the cypress grove obstructed the view of most of the green building you can now see to the northeast of the trees. We can now see the tennis courts on top of the Bay Club.

The trees in 2004 were considerably taller than the trees that remain. We have an uninterrupted view of Treasure Island instead of having trees obstructing our views of the northernmost third of the island. We can also see more of Teatro Zinzanni — those tents down at Pier 29 — and twice as much of the rooftop of the condo building to the north of the green building.

 

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I’d taken this shot to show the tidal bore on a very boring day, but it also shows what our view of Treasure Island was in May 2004. That’s a whole lot o’ tree that’s been taken down in the last three years.

I have mixed feelings about all this. I love trees. I miss the green stuff — I much prefer green stuff to views of the neighbors’ roofs — but I think there was far more agitation over the poor parrots and this privately-owned cypress grove than there needed to be. I think the City spent more time and effort — when they don’t seem to have time to worry about some critical problems — than the situation warranted. I know Mark loves the parrots and I know he made them famous with his book. If someone had said we should spare the trees, if at all possible, because they’re right outside Mark’s door and he wants to have the parrots right there, well, I could understand that, but that’s not how all the agitation and public spin came down before the City set about changing rules, trimming trees and indemnifying the owner.

“The parrots are fine,” I tell worried friends who have read the tales of woe and crisis and parrots. This bit of greenery is not what it was, but the parrots still flock to trees on Telegraph Hill. We still hear them yackyackyack yackyackyack yackyackyackyacking. They still amuse the tourists and scare the cat.

May the flock prosper and increase.

November 13, 2007

Tree trimming … and it isn’t even Christmas!

Filed under: causes,life,politics — Tags: , , , — Towse @ 10:14 pm

 
 
 

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Talk about a job I wouldn’t want! I can’t even stand at the edge of the roof without getting shaky knees.

Tree trimmers are trimming the trees down the hill from us, trees which caused such political uproar a year ago or so and resulted in new rules regarding tree cutting on private property. Siblings of the trees were taken out three years ago. These remaining trees are supposed to remain in place and be taken care of until they can’t be maintained. The City’s indemnified the owner from any lawsuits that might arise should the trees topple over or break a limb.

The guy up in the tree checks his knots frequently. He has an ally on the roof of the building just east of the trees and an ally on the ground, who is cutting the fallen branches with a chain saw. The guy in the tree has done most of his work with a tree saw on a long pole but just now switched to a chain saw.

Earlier today, the neighborhood e-mail list flashed with a “someone’s cutting the cypresses” note, followed by a note from Mark Bittner that the cutting was all in order.

The neighbors are watching. The parrots are sitting on someone’s railing to get a better view of what’s going on because their usual tree perch doesn’t have a good line of sight for the trees being trimmed.

When allz done, I’ll post before and afters.

Update: Gone for the day. Ropes still in trees.

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