Late last night, some monocot-hater(s) sliced through the trunk of one of the palm trees near 20th and Church. Shortly after being discovered this morning, the damaged tree was deemed an immediate hazard and was taken down at around 2pm.
It almost looks as though the intention was to have the tree fall onto the tracks, as if the J-Church needs any more delays.
I can say from, err, personal field research, that the cops cleared everyone out of the park playground at midnight, so this probably happened after that unless these guys were super-quiet about it.
More info over at Dolores Park Works.
[photo via Dolores Park Works]
 sliced through the trunk of one of the palm trees near 20th and Church. Shortly after being discovered this morning, the damaged tree was deemed an immediate hazard and was taken down at around 2pm. It almost looks as though the intention was to have the tree fall onto the […]</p>
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Thank you for not using “on the quiet.”
It was probably the assholes who live across the street, trying to get a better view. It wouldn’t be the first time trees in that part of Dolores were vandalized by some douche who thinks his view/property value is more important than the park.
You know this makes you sound crazy, right? If a person wanted to illegally clear a tree they’d TCB, not aim it to fall on the tracks and risk prison for criminal mischief.
I probably do sound crazy, but if you look at the other trees on that block of church, you’ll see that a lot of them have been cut badly. Specifically one pine in the park between Cumberland and 18th. The top was sheared off like a hedge around the time that the building on the west side of the street (which got a view of downtown after the tree was butchered) went on the market. I work on trees for a living and I live in the neighborhood, so I notice these things. The saw cut on the palm actually looks like the first of three cuts you would make to fell a tree to make it fall toward the path, not the muni tracks. It’s called a notch cut. Or, it could have been some random stupid asshole, but why would you cut down a palm tree for no reason?
That’s pretty interesting! The extent of my tree knowledge is from watching lumberjack competitions on ESPN in the early 90s, so I’ll defer to you on technique.
(I don’t have a better alternative explanation than “random stupid asshole”, but unfortunately that seems plausible as well, at least to me.)
The other thing I’ve noticed in my line of work is that there are plenty of random, stupid assholes in this world. And when it comes to trees, the assholes always seem to overestimate themselves and underestimate the tree.
Sadly, tree vandals do exist — not clear what the point is, but this is not the first time that a tree has been randomly attacked.
I doubt that someone was protecting their view; given the slope in this area, it seems unlikely that it was blocking anyone’s view.
Damn Hooligans http://www.missionmission.org/2012/10/02/partying-in-dolores-park-on-the-hottest-night-of-ever/
Effin retards.
we heard people smashing bottles all night long at 19th and church.
What did SFPD reply when you called them; you DID call them, am I right?
Why in the world would anyone do THAT? Smashing bottles is an official Mission District sporting event, endorsed (and casually observed) by the SFPD.
Remember the palm torched on Hoff in front of Kid Power park? Crazy. They cut them both down. Pretty stupid though. They let the trees suffer for years with no trimming. And then two died and they left them. I’m not sure what I’m trying to say.
I guess it’s not safe being a Palm
After a big tree came down in Glen Canyon this week, I hope this isn’t the start of someone going around vandalizing trees (http://glenparkassociation.org/2012/10/02/monterey-pine-falls-in-canyon-wires-to-rec-center-down/). The one in GC was purportedly accidental, but maybe it just didn’t occur to anyone to suspect vandalism?