had a very good experience with public works etc.
    15 years
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During Wednesday evening's storm, the maple tree in our front yard fell and blocked part of the road.
Police responded in about 2 min. Public works arrived in about 30 min. In about 60 min, a huge truck with a chipper, and 3 men in chain saws arrived and were working in pouring rain (employees of the township).
When all was said and done, the road was cleared, but the sidewalk was blocked as they cut part of the tree and a huge trunk was on it. The tree split like a Y. They did this to make it safe.
The lead person said you should check with the state, it might be their tree. It could get expensive to remove so if it's theirs you want them to do it. (this was wrong btw)
I called PennDOT, and every person I spoke to acted as if they cared. Huh? I reached a person who said she would bring up the plans and then drive out to the site. This was Thursday.
In the meantime, the town came the next morning with a claw and took the trunk off the sidewalk. They did leave a lot on the lawn but tons was all cut up already.
PennDOT called on Friday and said as they thought, the tree is not the state's, it's the homeowners'. The right of way is 40' and they measured 20' from the center, and that equated to the inside edge of the sidewalk. The tree is a good 3' inside of that.
In this case, I dealt with 2 public entities who were responsive and courteous. So for all those who think that public entities are grabbing our wallets, this is the total opposite.
In the meantime I had gotten estimates to clean up and remove the tree, and 5 quotes ranged from $2200 to $2600. So I negotiated for $2000 on Monday.
Oddly, my cell rang and the last co. said $1200. I said let's do it, when can you do the job? Tomorrow (today) at 9:30.
The co showed up 4 min early, had 3 trucks (bucket, chipper, and claw), 5 men, and got the job done in 1:45.
What an amazingly positive experience all around. I never could have imagined that a 70 y.o. tree could fall, and the experience could have turned out like it did. I feel as if I live in a good community.
Oh, and another funny thing, I found the co. had a Valpak coupon so they took another $100 off, net $1,100.
Thanks
Thanks for sharing that experience.
Agree with John.
Thanks for sharing that experience.
Sometimes we don't appreciate our local govt. agencies enough. In my experience they are dedicated, hard working people doing their job and often under difficult circumstances with little appreciation from the public they serve. You can bet they get lots of complaints when someone isn't happy, so send them a note and tell them they did a good job. It will make their day.
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i've had good luck in my town but it is a suburb
approx population 8000.
I've called after hours on holidays to report sewer main backing up and had crew come out to jet blast the line in the wee hours. I was surprised when one of the workers asked if his kid could use the bathroom (did not even know the kid was in his truck in his PJs).
When I've had to call the city admin for stuff, very responsive.
On the other hand, calling the major city nearby is a major hassle.
interesting
thing I learned about PA, it's all about the "township." There are tons of places that are nothing more than postal zip codes, but people say, "I live in xyz." So one zip code can be in two townships. For example, when Tiger Woods was here for the US Open, our police protected him. I was wondering how much that cost us lol
So there are "towns" in PA that did not exist until 1963 I think it was. But it means nothing except for mailing purposes. Taxes, services, schools, are driven by township...
zip codes
thing I learned about PA, it's all about the "township." There are tons of places that are nothing more than postal zip codes, but people say, "I live in xyz." So one zip code can be in two townships. For example, when Tiger Woods was here for the US Open, our police protected him. I was wondering how much that cost us lol
So there are "towns" in PA that did not exist until 1963 I think it was. But it means nothing except for mailing purposes. Taxes, services, schools, are driven by township...
Zip Codes are a federal thing and have zero to do with township, city or borough municipal boundaries, other than similar sounding names.
Here in Delaware County, "Media" is a prefect example. The media zip code is 19063, the actual town of Media is very small in area, but the Media zip code is huge, it covers all of Media Boro, all of Upper Providence Township, and parts of Nether Providence Township and most of Middletown Township and most of Rose Valley Boro.
Another, where I live is in Upper Darby Township, but my section has a Lansdowne zip code, Lansdowne is the next town over, the Lansdowne post office is actually in Upper Darby Township. I can't tell you how many times people insist I live in Lansdowne because of my mailing address, my trash is collected by UD Twp, police and fire are UD Twp I pay my taxes to UD Twp, not Lansdowne.
There are places like this all over the country, because, as I mentioned, zip code names and municipality boundary lines are rarely exactly the same.
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Thanks for sharing this
Very interesting account; thanks for sharing. I'm glad you felt it was a positive experience overall. Some people I know would have been spitting woodchips if they had to pay $2000+ to get the debris removed, but as you said, this tree was on your property and not the public way.
Thank goodness the tree fell on the street and not your house! I love big trees but not in my yard and especially not within striking distance of my house. I don't want anything taller than I can manage myself.
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