A nearby tree limb is laying on a main fibre line for our neighborhood, it going to knock out service and is a hazard if it hits someone. the phone line is supporting the limb
the tree sits on a abandoned right of way left over from the farm that was originally here. brunner lane has been abandoned since 1950....
verizon no longer trims trees even if informed the limb will knock out service. the limb is big at least a foot in diameter.
the town refuses to trim a tree unless its on town property even if its a hazard. that big a limb hitting someone or a vehicle is dangerous.
no one will do anything and i dontr want to lose phone service.
any ideas of who to complain to would be appreciated
I would try contacting them again maybe this time asking for a supervisor.
Verizon also serves our area and my buddy had a similar situation near his house. He called them and a few days later a contractor they use showed up and removed the branch.
I agree with your town that it has no responsibility to trim trees on private property.
A local council member or Mayor? If you can get your local newspaper interested, they may be able to shame Verizon or your city into action.
If the limb appears to be in imminent danger of falling, your local Fire Dept is likely empowered to order someone to make things safe. I wouldn't waste their time unless you really think there's an immediate risk to life or property however.
The town has their lawyer solicitor researching who owns the tree, and wouldnt even trim a active hazard just send a letter giving whoever 10 days to make it safe
I complained to the PUC verizon rep called me back and said we wait till the line breaks then bill the property owner, they refuse to do anything........
I called the local town council rep he hasnt called me back yet.
called the pittsburgh post gazette today hopefully they will call back.
The tree has shed limbs in the past, the adjacent property owner is 88 years old blind widow. I shovel snow to keep a patth to her home clear in the winter.
the trouble ... this could hurt someone and cause a phone outage. that might be critical to someone in a medical emergency.
the fact verizon no longer cares, they used to trim is very sad.
Well ya can't complain here! Didn't you recently pose this question/comment; say the tree was on property of and elderly woman? I vaguely recall you being given some options.
I was cutting down some trees at a rental house and one took down the phone wire by accident. Tenant called Verizon, I started packing up so I could get out of there before the phone guy showed up. Before I got loaded up the phone guy showed up and fixed the line. Caught me still at the scene. I commented about he got there before I could escape and he just laffed and said it didn't matter how it happened. I got the old over head 2 conductor too. :)
limb is about a foot in diameter overhanging street/ it might hit someone and cause a accident too. wouldnt want in thru my windshield.
it will take out phone FIOS DSL, and tv too.
now at this point a nice ice storm will do it in, its hanging low as is......
in such a case it could be days before its repaired. many neighbors are older. assume a medical emergency like a heart attack occurs while the line is out of service........
companies should maintain essential services, sure i have a cell phone but everyone doesnt.
OK - not that you're *obliged* to do this, but you *can* do this, since you're greatly concerned about it - it's not out of the realm of possibility:
Find out whose property it's on, get written permission from that owner, and
*hire* a tree company to take it down. Then rest easy, if slightly poorer.
Most often this kind of thing has to do with no one involved having the wherewithall to hire someone, and/or thinking that it's 'not done' to hire someone if possibly a company or town agency might do it. Sometimes the only way to break the deadlock is to just do something about it.
He said it was on an abandoned piece of property or lane from the
50's. Not clear exactly what that means. If it was a piece of land that was subject to property taxes, normally if it's not paid for X years, it goes up for tax auction. You would think between the tax assessor and hall of records someone could figure out who owns it. But if it's in real danger of falling into the street and hitting someones windshield as described, I would think the town or responsible govt agency for the road would have the clear right to remove that danger
The Verizon policy is quite amazing. Here in NJ and I guess elsewhere in the country, we have quite the opposite problem with power lines. After the northeast blackout from a few years ago, which started with overgrown trees shorting the lines, the Feds passed tough new brush cutting standards that power companies must follow for transmission lines. It calls for not allowing anything to exist that can grow higher than 3 ft directly under the lines and no higher than
15 ft on the rest of the easement.
So, you have JCPL crews whacking out everything. Including guys who are using the easement land to grow nursery trees, which was perfectly OK when they granted the easement. If you do the geometry, it seems pretty stupid given how tall the transmission towers are. And even more stupid when you consider the environmental problems that clear cutting will do.
A right of way is a path through someone else's property. It's always a piece of that person's property. It cannot be "abandoned" into an unowned state. One of the landowners adjacent to that right of way MUST own that property.
"the tree sits on a abandoned right of way left over from the farm that was originally here. brunner lane has been abandoned since 1950.... "
it's not clear exactly what it is or who owns it Particularly since he also said the town has their lawyer trying to figure out who owns it. If one of the neighbors owns it, one would think it would be very easy to figure that out.
Depends, where I live (and in many places in my community) there is an alley behind my property. The old maps call it a "cartway" and no one owns it nor is anyone required to own it. It is something of a problem since no one owns it obviously no one wants to maintain it.
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com posted for all of us...
Ok hollarbutt, call Verizon and say "there is static on "whomever service i= t=20 is" line. They will come out and you say "it seems to do it more when the = wind=20 blows" start looking around with your natural dumbfounded expression and sa= y=20 "do you think that limb could be causing it?" Remind the tech the neighbor= is=20 an old lady - appear to their sympathies - and that the old lady has an ass= hole=20 for a neighbor. Give them your baleful puppy dog look.
--=20 Tekkie Don't bother to thank me, I do this as a public service.
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