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If a tree falls in the South End, you better believe it makes a sound
By adamg on Tue, 06/07/2022 - 10:16pm
Claudia Pouravelis reports what happened on Waltham Street in the South End around 6 p.m.
Scariest sound of my life. Crash outside 6pm playground full of children. Huge tree just fell over on Waltham in South End for no apparent reason. Cars damaged but no one hurt - thank God.
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Comments
Trees don't fall for no
Trees don't fall for no reason. Does the city have an arborist group that does checks for diseased or dying trees or stressed trees along sidewalks and occupied dwellings that are at risk of falling and injuring or killing people? Like this one?
Behold gravity — IN ALL ITS
Behold gravity — IN ALL ITS GLORY!
A lot of trees came down in
A lot of trees came down in the storm Memorial Day weekend, it could've sustained damage then. It's been more than a week but still I don't think the city checks every single tree for structural damage after each and every windy day.
I'm sure they do
But in their defense, there are thousands of street trees in Boston and they can't be on top of every single one. It's hard to tell from that photo, but that one sure looks pretty healthy to me.
City of Boston arborists aren't that great
A tree in front of my house was dropping large branches for over 2 years. Everything was dead on one side of the tree. I kept asking for removal. The arborist(s) decided to trim, twice. After a huge branch came down they finally removed the tree. There was a huge cavity running up and down the tree. It had been half dead for a long time.
The same thing is going on with a tree around the corner from me. It is clearly not healthy but instead of removing it as requested on 311, they trimmed it. It currently is a 70 foot tree with active growth only on the top 20 percent of the tree. It's only a matter of time.
When I was on the first date
When I was on the first date with my husband, we were leaving the Thinking Cup on Tremont near the Common, when a tree fell across the street. It was a good night. No rain or wind and the tree fell. Luckily no one was hurt and we think it was a omen on the relationship.
South end trees
It was pretty windy and the trees on many South End streets grow leaning into the center to get more light (you can see the others in the photo leaning). While they’re shorter, trees are protected from wind by the buildings on either side of the street. Once they grow taller, the canopy catches all of the wind blowing over the buildings’ roofs. Add all of those factors together and you start to see taller trees being blown over on windy days.
All cities and towns in Massachusetts have a tree warden
The City does not have an arborist group to do that, but a tree warden, as required by state law. Boston's tree warden is an employee of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Why not both?
Your second link says that Boston's tree warden is a certified arborist.
Yes, the city has an Arborist…
However, we’ve called multiples times about a dying (dead?) tree leaning over cars and the arborist cheerfully replies that it’s healthy as an ox - no need to do anything.
Damn ents and their moots.
Damn ents and their moots.
Drivers like to speed down Waltham.
Which is extremely rude and dangerous as the street is narrow with parked cars on both sides creating sight hazards and little kids are often crossing it to get to Ringgold Park.
Maybe this tree just had enough and sacrificed itself to create some traffic calming and bring attention to the issue.