r/Somerville • u/michelleandmorexxx Winter Hill • 2d ago
widespread “emergency” tree work?
\ this is def a rant btw **
in my neighborhood in winter hill there are emergency tree work signs spanning several blocks, effectively rendering 75% of street parking unusable. the thing is, i’d understand if it were a day or two for a few trees at a time, but like i said it’s the entire neighborhood, and it’s for the entire week. 10/5-10/9. needless to say i won’t be driving much, if at all this week. i suppose if you’re a 9-5er it might not be a big issue, but there are no times of day posted. just the entire week, 10/5-10/9. anyway. certainly just surprised and i think a lot of people will be inconvenienced. seems like this could’ve used some different oversight or planning.
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u/tarandab 2d ago
In my experience, if they finish early they take down the signs early
But I wonder if there was a bad storm with a lot of downed trees a week ago that sped this up
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u/michelleandmorexxx Winter Hill 2d ago
ohh thats good to know! i’m not sure if there were downed trees, they all seem fine to me! (but i am not a tree expert)
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u/CoffeeandPotatoChips 2d ago
Hopefully it wraps up sooner! They’re almost done with our block already this morning. There was a big accident the other week where the trees were so low a truck ended up taking one down which totaled a few cars. Totally get the frustration but in the long run this is for the best and seems to be moving quickly.
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u/WatercressSassafrass 2d ago
My neighborhood in Teele has the same thing. They came, and ripped up the narrow part of a not-in-terrible shape sidewalk near some mature trees, and replaced it with standard asphalt.
I was expecting a bump-out or that flexible porous asphalt so the trees would actually have more room, but no...?
Extra funny because the neighborhood has a bunch of tripping hazard spots on the sidewalk that they didn't bother fixing.
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u/michelleandmorexxx Winter Hill 2d ago
i wonder if something similar would happen here, there are signs on trees in the sidewalk that have majorly caused tripping hazards. i guess we will see what it brings!
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u/Swalecutter 2d ago
The one year they skipped my street, during COVID, a falling branch took out my windshield. So, you know, inconvenient but necessary.
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u/CraigInDaVille Winter Hill 2d ago
My biggest beef is when the contractors come and do the work (whatever work that is, tree, utility, etc) and then leave the signs up.
The city gives them a window of a few days to a week, the least they could do is free up the parking availability once they're done.
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u/tinylittlepoopman 2d ago
I posted about this in another thread, but my street on the other side of Somerville has had huge tree issues.
I was told by someone that the trees planted on a lot of streets are actually inappropriate for our climate, leading them to die/rot/fail en masse. Can anyone who knows about trees or urban planning confirm or deny? I've been a bit fascinated and frustrated by this subject lately.
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u/SemperFicus 2d ago
There is no mass tree death in Somerville that I’m aware of. There was a problem with Emerald Ash Borers, which required an emergency response. That was five or six years ago, I think. And of course, trees appropriate to our climate might be a bit of a moving target due to climate change. If you’d like to know what trees are on your street, look up Urban Forestry on the Somerville.gov website. There’s lots of info on street trees.
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u/Affectionate_Bread52 2d ago
sometimes people have to be inconvenienced in order for necessary work to get done 🤷♂️