Fall is here. Soon, trees throughout town will blaze in a spectacular show of reds, oranges and yellows.
Naturally, an alert “06880” reader wants to cut some down.
She writes:
In recent storms, this is a not uncommon Westport sight.
We’ve all noticed trees around town that are destined to fall across roads at any moment. Their roots are totally exposed. They lean at 45-degree angles over the street. Dead branches dangle in the air everywhere.
In our heads, we place bets on when the tree will come down: the next rainstorm? The next snowstorm? The next sunny day?
The deaths on the Merritt Parkway recently, the school bus incident Monday and the lengthy power restoration after Irene prove that trees can be both deadly and ignored.
Can’t the town be more proactive? Isn’t there some sort of tree warden who should be on top of this? If we want to call in with reports of dangerous trees, whom do we contact? Is it a wasted effort?
Even fishermen should be wary: There’s a tree on the other side of the river from Clinton Avenue (at the base of the killer hill there) that is hanging maybe 30 degrees above the water. Any day now…
Town Tree Warden
110 Myrtle Avenue – Room 210
Part-time position, please contact through
Public Works Main Office – 203-341-1120
Back in the days when Loren Sniffen (Fillow Flower) was Tree Warden, he made it a full-time job, keeping the tree-cutters busy and residents happy.
I live on Wright Street which is lined with overage trees.Three have come down in the last 18 months resulting in power loss to the street. The town will clean up after the trees come down, but I was told that only CL&P will cut trees that threaten power lines. They don’t seem to be terribly interested.
As a CL&P exec who lives in the area and I stood surveying my neighbor’s yard across the street where there used to be a row of 5 huge trees with uncontrolled canopies and one has come down in each of the last wind events, I pointed to the last one and commented that it was lined up directly with our driveway and side of our house and was there anything I could do. He suggested slipping a note in with my next bill with the location of the tree and my concerns and it will get sent to the right CL&P dept. That sounds easy!
And then they’ll call Vancouver or Wisconsin to get someone over here to do the work. Remember when CT was a great state?
When was that?
Before the income tax.