JEA's flunky, hired tree service butchers the trees of Jacksonville yet again

[Dog Walker]

You should hear what our local, actually qualified arborists say about Lewis' trimming practices.  Both Gene Bushor and Early Piety, who have nearly a century of experience between them, wax loudly profane when addressing the subject.

JEA should hire them to trim in the historic districts instead of Lewis, but doing it correctly would probably cost more.  Work done by qualified, trained and supervised people rather than immigrant day labor usually does.

[ChriswUfGator]

I am reporting this to the internal affairs inside JEA.

-Josh

I think you falsely assume they care enough to have such a department, LOL

What? Did I hear that clear enough? Oh right, you don't believe me.

-Josh

I was just kidding, at JEA's expense. That wasn't directed at you at all, it was a dig at JEA...

[Springfield Girl]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever been to another city thats power company cuts huge V's out of the middle of their trees?

Right after my encounter with Lewis Tree Hackers last year, we happened to spend some time in New Orleans and noticed that their utility did not trim nearly as severely as Lewis/JEA does and they have much the same or denser tree canopy than we do.  We tried to take pictures of the difference, but it is difficult to see from the ground.

I don't think that anyone could make the case that New Orleans has a lower incidence of windstorms than we do.

I'm from New Orleans and I can tell you they definitley do not hack their trees like JEA/Lewis do here. I can't look at the front of my house now without being distraught over the horrendous butchering of my beautiful trees. Seven years of love and care ruined by lazy, ignorant morons. The thing that makes it worse is that these trees did not need to be cut. They are River Birch and are on JEA's approved list to plant under lines. They had reached their maximum height and size. At this maturity the branches are still fine and wispy and no threat to taking down lines. I have no doubt that the service gets paid by the address or number of trees, so wants to cut every tree regardless of whether it is a threat or not.

[Dog Walker]

Here is an interesting excerpt from JEA's own "Tree Trimming Policy".  If nothing else it's good for an ironic laugh.

Exceptions: Regarding portions of JEA’s mainline circuits located in
areas designated as Historic Districts and/or other areas with significant
established tree canopies, the Regular and ERT Standards should be
pursued where possible. Adequate consideration will be given however,
to balancing the needs of JEA’s VMP against the needs of the community,
customers and property owners. Where possible, the Standards should be
adhered to. However, when pursuing VM activities in these areas, the
JEA Forester will work closely with internal and external stakeholders to
achieve the right balance on a case-by-case, location-by-location basis.
Refer to diagram 3 below.

[ChriswUfGator]

Yeah you like those documents I got you dontcha? They're defnitely good for comedic value...

[Dog Walker]

The thing that makes it worse is that these trees did not need to be cut. They are River Birch and are on JEA's approved list to plant under lines. They had reached their maximum height and size. At this maturity the branches are still fine and wispy and no threat to taking down lines. I have no doubt that the service gets paid by the address or number of trees, so wants to cut every tree regardless of whether it is a threat or not.

They have no training to tell one kind of tree from another or how to trim different kinds of trees in a different manner appropriate to the growth pattern.

River Birches are great urban trees.

[fsujax]

i really hate how they just completely whack the palms and cause their death. This happend to many old, beautiful Sabal Palms in Springfield.

[Springfield Girl]

So I still have not received a return phone call from the forestry dept. at JEA but they did take the time to send a generic email response to the detailed email I sent them. I thought it was a nice touch that they want me to file a complaint instead of taking care of their own issues and employees.
Here is what I received.

Thank you for your online inquiry. I appreciate your bringing this matter to my attention.   I regret you had this unpleasant experience and wish to apologize on behalf of JEA for any distress it may have caused you.  Please feel free to call the Lewis Tree Service at 665-6050 to log any complaint. 
Thank you,
JEA Customer Service

This is an auto-acknowledgment. Please do not reply to this email.
For electronic assistance, select the “Contact Us” link on the top right corner of any jea.com web


I still have not received a response to the email I sent Lewis Tree Service.

[ChriswUfGator]

Yeah, welcome to JEA. A lawyer is about the only way to get actual information out of them, just FYI. What do you expect, their structure has us all on the hook for the bill but with no oversight. This is the logically expected result. JEA's structure needs to be revisited if we all want an end to these problems.

[iloveionia]

Everything needs an attorney these days.  Ridiculous (no offense chriswufgator.)
Figuring I need to send my son to law school rather than having him persue that engineering degree he talks about.

Fact is, JEA doesn't care. 
Fact is, that stupid tree butchering company doesn't care.
Fact is, we need our council person to scream out loud that this is not acceptable and make it stop.

[Ralph W]

(d)

Any person, organization, society, association, corporation or agent thereof who intends to trim, prune, cut, disturb roots, or to destroy or remove any tree from a public easement, public property or right-of-way shall obtain a permit from the Chief. All work shall be conducted in strict accordance with the National Arborist Association Pruning Standards for Shade Trees, the American National Standards for Tree Care Operations (ANSI #Z133.1), and any additional conditions of such permit.

(e)

Any department or division of the City of Jacksonville, any independent authority or agency of the City of Jacksonville, and any provider or utility service may obtain an annual permit to trim or remove trees for maintenance purposes, for the installation of new facilities, or to maintain proper clearance on existing facilities upon the submission of an operational manual, procedures and/or standards for such work within the service area of the utility, which manual, procedures and/or standards shall be subject to the review and approval of the Chief. A separate annual permit shall be obtained for areas designated as scenic and historic corridors established pursuant to Section 656.1219, which permit shall include the procedures, standards and conditions imposed by council, if any, in the ordinance designating the corridor. All work shall be conducted in strict accordance with the permit; provided, however, that the requirements of this Section shall not restrict in any manner whatsoever or prohibit any provider of utility service from taking any action to trim or remove trees which is reasonably required in order to restore utility service. The permit holder shall make every reasonable effort to minimize the impact on the environment, including consideration of alternatives for the provision of service.


     Note that in these excerpts from the municipal code that the ordinary tax payer is held to a higher standard than any independent authority (that would be JEA and the rest of them, too). It would be interesting to see the so-called operational manual, procedures and/or standards as required in the annual permit for trimming or removal for maintenance purposes.

     It would also be interesting if one or more of our council persons would introduce legislation that included the same wording for section (e) as is required for section (d).

[Timkin]

Everything needs an attorney these days.  Ridiculous (no offense chriswufgator.)
Figuring I need to send my son to law school rather than having him persue that engineering degree he talks about.

Fact is, JEA doesn't care. 
Fact is, that stupid tree butchering company doesn't care.
Fact is, we need our council person to scream out loud that this is not acceptable and make it stop.

Agree 100% .... I think there are plenty of tree companies just as willing to do the work , and do so without ruining the trees.    This group is clearly not qualified.

[Dog Walker]

Huge national company using cheap, immigrant labor = low bidder.