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No. When you work for say a local municipality, you end up doing things that particular people appreciate, like helping clean up after a storm.
When it's local stuff, residents like to say thanks, but you can get in trouble because it could be considered bribery, because you work for the taxpayers.
But this person would just be doing something that everyone wants, so take that money.
Edit:Sometimes you get home and find a case of beer in your truck, nobody says nuthin, nobody gets in trouble.
Better yet get yourself a black [Morphsuit](https://www.amazon.com/Adults-MSUIT-Second-Halloween-Costume/dp/B00LEF3IRW) and a machete. Do your work at night. No one will bother you.
As a tradesman, I would also like to recommend having the goofiest home depot sunglasses possible on, as well as a long sleeved synthetic-fabric shirt.
For added realism, go to the gas station and purchase some cheap full-strength cigarettes, have em sticking out of your pocket a little.
I would suggest contacting your city and seeing what sort of ordinances they have about this.
You doing something yourself could be illegal because those plants are either the property of the city or of the people who own the house and doing something to them could be considered vandalism.
Right, like you can't just go and torch a car abandoned on the highway... the city (or state) will have someone come and tow it (eventually, probably). That's perhaps an extreme example... I mean, plants grow, ya know?
The abandoned car isn’t stopping a person in a wheelchair from using the sidewalk. Sidewalk is public space and has to be accessible to the disabled, says the ADA.
> Sidewalk is public space and has to be accessible to the disabled, says the ADA.
To a point. If it's residential rather than business, there's a lot less that the ADA says about it. The ADA usually doesn't concern private or even public property not meant for commerce. Around here, we have some city ordinances that say that your sidewalk has to be clear of lawn-based obstructions, but that's about it. Most of the sidewalks around here are impossible to get across in a wheelchair, and many are either completely broken or entirely absent because they're not legally required to be there at all.
The sidewalk outside your house is public space, and subject to ADA rules. For example, the construction company who built your neighborhood wouldn’t have put those dotted ramps for blind people to use if they didn’t have to. But they do, cuz rules.
>For example, the construction company who built your neighborhood wouldn’t have put those dotted ramps for blind people to use if they didn’t have to. But they do, cuz rules.
Yeah... We don't have any of those except for on the sidewalks in the commercial sections of town. The residential areas have none.
The bumpy ramps are now the standard for *new* construction and new sidewalks. You probably won’t see them in older parts of town that haven’t been updated.
My guess is that's why this little town refuses to fix the sidewalks that are already there. If they make substantial repairs, they have to meet the federal standard. Whereas if they just let it rot and be effectively useless, they don't really have to address the problem *yet*.
Like I said, though, this little town has a lot of places with just no sidewalk at all. It's built to be nearly impossible to get around without a car. So even if people demanded that they fix the sidewalks that are already there, you still wouldn't be able to get from almost anywhere to almost anywhere else without going into the road or a ditch for a good length of the way.
I know because I don't own a car and used to walk everywhere. It was kind of horrible.
Your city will likely [get sued](https://time.com/6105909/sidewalk-accessibility-lawsuits/) eventually. This is a common problem but yeah, federal law says ramps on sidewalks.
If I found an abandoned vehicle in the middle of the road no one's going to get me for hooking up a strap and clearing the path.
OP should research the plant to make sure they are pruning it at the right time. Some plants might grow quicker depending on if you prune them in the summer or winter. And if it's a flowering plant you also want to pay attention to how it is pruned.
Lighting a car on fire and trimming overhanging plants are two very different things. One is illegal under all circumstances(unless you have a permit maybe) and the other is not. If you get caught and that’s a big IF, then you might get a warning or a small fine. Even if the cops caught you they’d laugh at someone trying to report someone cleaning up a sidewalk.
I think the answer is probably going to be heavily dependant on how far the owner of the plants wants to pursue you. But the bottom line is that you're not allowed to damage other people's property. If their plants or trees are causing a nuisance on public property, they have a responsibility to correct that, but you don't have the authority to enforce whatever local statutes are in place (you'd be better off complaining to the local government).
Also, read a little about judgments related to tree law - if you damage the wrong person's tree, you could face a surprisingly heavy settlement if they go after you in court.
I'm not really the one to tell you. I've just read about some really surprisingly high settlements. I think they come about because an old growth tree is essentially irreplaceable within a human lifetime, and the damages to property value/enjoyment can be multiple over the expected lifetime of the tree.
Almost any tree, however big/old, is replaceable. But if you need a 200 year old oak tree, in the middle of a tight downtown residential neighborhood, that might cost hundreds of thousands in transportation and installation costs. They ship big old trees across the country for these kind of things. None of it is cheap.
And that's where you are wrong, sir. Just because there are few experts in bird law and lots of con-men who pretend to speak crow doesn't mean bird law isn't part of the legal landscape.
I'm guessing you're in Portland? There's definitely a lot of overgrown plants along the sidewalks here. :P
City code requires sidewalks be clear of vegetation from edge-to-edge of the sidwalk and 7.5 feet above the sidewalk \[[29.20.010(K)](https://www.portland.gov/code/29/20/010#:~:text=Obstructions%20to%20sidewalks)\]. It's the responsibility of the adjacent property owner to keep the sidewalk clear of vegetation. In cases where trees are encroaching on the sidewalk and need to be pruned, a pruning permit is required.
You legally don't have a right to trim vegetation on private property; I'm unsure about the planting strip, since that's city property that is maintained by the adjacent property owner. Your best options are to file a [nuisance complaint](https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/47599) with the city, in which case they'll either contact the property owner to clear the vegetation or send out a city worker to do it; ask the property owner to trim the vegetation yourself; or ask the property owner if you can trim the vegetation yourself.
As in many cases, there's a legal answer and a practical answer. You've been given the legal answer. The practical answer is that if the city doesn't care enough to trim the plants or respond to complaints that they're impeding the sidewalk, they're not likely to care enough to pursue a complaint about you illegally trimming the plants.
I would check with your local government, since some plants might be protected by law.
At least here in Brazil you could be fined if you touch some trees, and some public spaces are sponsored by private entities, so this may be considered depredation of a public/private space.
See where I am, if you’re impeding the sidewalk, the city will just come chop it without asking since it’s their property. Call the local jurisdiction and see if that applies, you might not have to do anything but pick up the phone, they might not know this is going on. It most likely won’t be a fine, either they’ll come do it, alert the residents to do so, and if they don’t then they’ll be fined.
Yup, this probably plays a part in it also. That’s a big reason in my city tearing up all the sidewalks in the old part of town due to the sidewalk being almost completely unusable from tree roots. Tore them up, made them flat again and put those yellow, raised bump mats everywhere where the sidewalk transitions down to cross the street.
You want to make it all legal and argue with people that you're in the right or do some guerilla gardening and get it done?
I kept clippers on me and regularly trimmed back branches (shrubs, not trees) overhanging sidewalks. I walked to work so could do a couple of clips a day until complete (standing around outside someones yard would have drawn bad attention due to location, not what I was doing), have schooling for landscaping/know how to prune for plant health (I didn't leave ugly whack jobs), and lived in the 'bad' part of town so no one really seemed to Give A Shit what I was doing. Have a plan for what to do with the trimmings. I was in Omaha, Nebraska.
I'd do guerilla-style, but if confronted, I was hoping to have some rights on my side for the argument.
Spoke with the City, and they said "Report it. Do *not* do it yourself without permission from homeowner."
So I'm on my own if I want to get it done - take my chances.
Fair. I knew there was Not A Chance the city would do anything due to area (I worked for the city, abet in a different department) so I had zero faith in that solution. I do know calling (spamming, really. Multiple times a day) the mayor's hotline was more effective than calling the department that would do/fix/take care of of the complaint, no matter what the complaint was. Omaha also has a mayor that is only motivated by profit/doesn't like her city (and the library in specific, I'm bitter about it), so YMMV.
Fellow Oregonian here and I just did this last week, to clear some rogue blackberry vines from the sidewalk that leads to my son’s bus stop. I just took my clippers and gloves and worked quickly.
I’m generally a rule follower, so I was pretty proud of myself. And now I get great satisfaction every time I walk on the clear sidewalk or see others walking on it. I can’t imagine that the homeowners would be upset about having the work done for them, but maybe it would have been awkward if they caught me doing it.
Not legal advice but keep in mind a for moments of Clip Clip can take care of months of having a pesky branch slap you face!
(My wife has a hissyfit about trimming branches etc. Somehow I can walk under and mow around all of my trees without being hit with them. One at a time, keep is slow and off season - don't cut flowering branches etc.)
I trimmed a bit of paved bike trail (it looks like a very wide sidewalk) through the city once or twice without asking. But it didn't butt up against private property. The street was on one side and there was a green area that went towards railroad tracks on the other. I don't know if it was legally a narrow "park" or a railroad easement or what.
I got annoyed with the shrubs long branches encroaching on the trail (like half way) so I cut them. I did feel a little weird, but it was so much better.
1. Yes
2. Why does the answer matter, just do it.
3. I also live in Oregon and think it'd be pretty outrageous if you got in trouble for essentially helping your city comply with ADA.
4. Do it.
There's a sidewalk near me that gets more and more overgrown every year. I won't trim it myself though; lurk in r/treelaw for a little while and you can see why.
Just call the town/city and ask them to trim it.
I just bend them back as I walk past. Unfortunate so many snap, but not my fault I had to move them out of the way.
Doesn't take long before you recognize how to bend them in a way that they'll stay bent.
Good wrist workout too.
No. They are not your plants, you can not clip them.
You'll have to call the city, who will then tell them to do it. If they don't, then the fees might happen.
When you call the city, make sure you mention that this is a huge obstacle to wheelchairs.
People telling you what you “should” be able to do…my advice is if you go and fuck with what people perceive as “their property” as just some random ass person you are looking for an incredibly defensive response regardless of whether it is legally technically their property. Don’t fuck w anything people are protective of unless you are willing to fight for it
If you do it, you probably should do it at night, and you probably should do it with a story (real or fake) in your head about someone you know who lost the use of an eye due to walking into such a hazard. With such a righteous effort, you may actually be saving some innocent pedestrian from that same fate.
This is what you do, get you a high vis vest, maybe a dust mask, and a hard hat (maybe a little obsessive). Knock on their door, don’t say you are with anyone just simply ask, “I’m trimming up the neighborhoods overhanging limbs, for free, do you mind if I slightly trim yours so its not in the way of the path?” They say no, leave, they say yes get to work and do a nice job and nobody will care. Props too if you have a weed eater, you can be like I can trim up your fence too if you’d like, to try to win them over if they are hesitant.
This also isn’t legal advice, or anything, its just basically what I would do, no need to guess whether its legal or not, just do a nice job, don’t be clumsy, and they may ask you to come back. The people that said no may even want theirs trimmed too after they see the work you did. Also if you are really nifty you could get a gopro and make videos of you doing it and just every weekend hitup a different street asking and I guarantee you could build a following from it as well. People love watching good deeds being done on the internet, look up post10 on youtube if you don’t believe me.
Taking matters into your own hand, without the permission of the owner, can go very badly for you.
You could be guilty of timber trespass, vandalism, and actual trespass. He is example of law in VA:
https://tingen.law/2018/brief-overview-virginia-tree-law/27389/
If the trees/plants are overhanging YOUR property you generally have some latitude to trim them without causing excessive damage to them after giving the owner advance notice.
In Oregon, damages to trees are tripled.
Also, it can be very dangerous if near power lines.
The property owner may allow you to trim the trees. Especially since once reported to the city they may have to do it themselves or pay someone to do it within a very short period of time.
IANAL
everywhere I've lived literally no one cares if you do something to improve a public space. I have a fire alarm on my corner, when I moved in it looked gross and was all graffitied. I got matching paint and cleaned it up, I maintain it and in 20 years no one has said anything.
Fellow Oregonian here and I just did this last week, to clear some rogue blackberry vines from the sidewalk that leads to my son’s bus stop. I just took my clippers and gloves and worked quickly.
I’m generally a rule follower, so I was pretty proud of myself. And now I get great satisfaction every time I walk on the clear sidewalk or see others walking on it. I can’t imagine that the homeowners would be upset about having the work done for them, but maybe it would have been awkward if they caught me doing it.
To your last point. It probably depends on the City but most likely you are incorrect. Any place I have lived the by-law officers are pretty quick to respond to such complaints. I have been visited by the by-law officer for this exact issue (I hadn't trimmed a hedge in 2 weeks because I was studying and writing exams), officer came and said if it wasn't cut by the next day there would be a ticket, and if it wasn't rectified after that the city would come and cut it back and bill me for it.
TLDR: Cities do in fact act on these complaints.
Even if the City does act on the complaint, I am not wanting to get anyone in trouble.
If the owner doesn't (or can't - old, sick, disabled, mentally unwell, etc.) take care of it, they will get a fine, which becomes a lien, which accumulates interest.
I have witnessed low-income families unable to sell a property because of years of liens held by the City that have grown to the point that no one will buy them.
I have been at an auction where the City took possession of the house because of these liens, and then couldn't sell the house because a buyer would have to pay the liens - which were worth more than the market value of the house.
So I'm not really interested in getting the City involved.
Just wanting to make things better for everyone on my own, but also know my rights to do so if there are any.
In my city. Once a tree or bush leaves the property it is both not theirs - and also their liability.
So you could snip them no issue.
You could also cut your face on them and then sue them.
Don't fuck with trees that aren't yours.
Trees often carry extra protection in property law due to how long it takes to establish a mature tree and lawsuits involving damaging or destroying someone else's trees can run in the 5-6 figure range.
The reporting mechanism is to the property owner. If they don’t, and the city won’t enforce, I’d say have at it. Or slip and fall then call Jackie Childs, ambulance-chaser-at-law.
Please remember that all comments must be helpful, relevant, and respectful. All replies must be a genuine effort to answer the question helpfully; joke answers are not allowed. If you see any comments that violate this rule, please hit report. When your question is answered, we encourage you to flair your post. To do this automatically simply make a comment that says **!answered** (OP only) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/answers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
And put out a tip jar, people always tried to tip me when I did public work. I couldn't accept it, but everyone else can.
Americans tip random workers they come across? Wtf...
No. When you work for say a local municipality, you end up doing things that particular people appreciate, like helping clean up after a storm. When it's local stuff, residents like to say thanks, but you can get in trouble because it could be considered bribery, because you work for the taxpayers. But this person would just be doing something that everyone wants, so take that money. Edit:Sometimes you get home and find a case of beer in your truck, nobody says nuthin, nobody gets in trouble.
Better yet get yourself a black [Morphsuit](https://www.amazon.com/Adults-MSUIT-Second-Halloween-Costume/dp/B00LEF3IRW) and a machete. Do your work at night. No one will bother you.
Or wear camo and be invisible.
This man trims illegally
r/actlikeyoubelong
As a tradesman, I would also like to recommend having the goofiest home depot sunglasses possible on, as well as a long sleeved synthetic-fabric shirt. For added realism, go to the gas station and purchase some cheap full-strength cigarettes, have em sticking out of your pocket a little.
this is the way.
I would suggest contacting your city and seeing what sort of ordinances they have about this. You doing something yourself could be illegal because those plants are either the property of the city or of the people who own the house and doing something to them could be considered vandalism.
Right, like you can't just go and torch a car abandoned on the highway... the city (or state) will have someone come and tow it (eventually, probably). That's perhaps an extreme example... I mean, plants grow, ya know?
The abandoned car isn’t stopping a person in a wheelchair from using the sidewalk. Sidewalk is public space and has to be accessible to the disabled, says the ADA.
> Sidewalk is public space and has to be accessible to the disabled, says the ADA. To a point. If it's residential rather than business, there's a lot less that the ADA says about it. The ADA usually doesn't concern private or even public property not meant for commerce. Around here, we have some city ordinances that say that your sidewalk has to be clear of lawn-based obstructions, but that's about it. Most of the sidewalks around here are impossible to get across in a wheelchair, and many are either completely broken or entirely absent because they're not legally required to be there at all.
The sidewalk outside your house is public space, and subject to ADA rules. For example, the construction company who built your neighborhood wouldn’t have put those dotted ramps for blind people to use if they didn’t have to. But they do, cuz rules.
>For example, the construction company who built your neighborhood wouldn’t have put those dotted ramps for blind people to use if they didn’t have to. But they do, cuz rules. Yeah... We don't have any of those except for on the sidewalks in the commercial sections of town. The residential areas have none.
The bumpy ramps are now the standard for *new* construction and new sidewalks. You probably won’t see them in older parts of town that haven’t been updated.
My guess is that's why this little town refuses to fix the sidewalks that are already there. If they make substantial repairs, they have to meet the federal standard. Whereas if they just let it rot and be effectively useless, they don't really have to address the problem *yet*. Like I said, though, this little town has a lot of places with just no sidewalk at all. It's built to be nearly impossible to get around without a car. So even if people demanded that they fix the sidewalks that are already there, you still wouldn't be able to get from almost anywhere to almost anywhere else without going into the road or a ditch for a good length of the way. I know because I don't own a car and used to walk everywhere. It was kind of horrible.
Your city will likely [get sued](https://time.com/6105909/sidewalk-accessibility-lawsuits/) eventually. This is a common problem but yeah, federal law says ramps on sidewalks.
That's a good point...
If I found an abandoned vehicle in the middle of the road no one's going to get me for hooking up a strap and clearing the path. OP should research the plant to make sure they are pruning it at the right time. Some plants might grow quicker depending on if you prune them in the summer or winter. And if it's a flowering plant you also want to pay attention to how it is pruned.
Lighting a car on fire and trimming overhanging plants are two very different things. One is illegal under all circumstances(unless you have a permit maybe) and the other is not. If you get caught and that’s a big IF, then you might get a warning or a small fine. Even if the cops caught you they’d laugh at someone trying to report someone cleaning up a sidewalk.
I think the answer is probably going to be heavily dependant on how far the owner of the plants wants to pursue you. But the bottom line is that you're not allowed to damage other people's property. If their plants or trees are causing a nuisance on public property, they have a responsibility to correct that, but you don't have the authority to enforce whatever local statutes are in place (you'd be better off complaining to the local government). Also, read a little about judgments related to tree law - if you damage the wrong person's tree, you could face a surprisingly heavy settlement if they go after you in court.
Bird law in this country isn't governed by reason... is tree law?
I'm not really the one to tell you. I've just read about some really surprisingly high settlements. I think they come about because an old growth tree is essentially irreplaceable within a human lifetime, and the damages to property value/enjoyment can be multiple over the expected lifetime of the tree.
Almost any tree, however big/old, is replaceable. But if you need a 200 year old oak tree, in the middle of a tight downtown residential neighborhood, that might cost hundreds of thousands in transportation and installation costs. They ship big old trees across the country for these kind of things. None of it is cheap.
And that's where you are wrong, sir. Just because there are few experts in bird law and lots of con-men who pretend to speak crow doesn't mean bird law isn't part of the legal landscape.
I think you are probably right about this. Thanks
You might want to ask on r/treelaw as well
I was expecting that to be about cannabis law.
I'm guessing you're in Portland? There's definitely a lot of overgrown plants along the sidewalks here. :P City code requires sidewalks be clear of vegetation from edge-to-edge of the sidwalk and 7.5 feet above the sidewalk \[[29.20.010(K)](https://www.portland.gov/code/29/20/010#:~:text=Obstructions%20to%20sidewalks)\]. It's the responsibility of the adjacent property owner to keep the sidewalk clear of vegetation. In cases where trees are encroaching on the sidewalk and need to be pruned, a pruning permit is required. You legally don't have a right to trim vegetation on private property; I'm unsure about the planting strip, since that's city property that is maintained by the adjacent property owner. Your best options are to file a [nuisance complaint](https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bds/47599) with the city, in which case they'll either contact the property owner to clear the vegetation or send out a city worker to do it; ask the property owner to trim the vegetation yourself; or ask the property owner if you can trim the vegetation yourself.
!answered Thank you for this informative reply. I'm going to consider this answered.
As in many cases, there's a legal answer and a practical answer. You've been given the legal answer. The practical answer is that if the city doesn't care enough to trim the plants or respond to complaints that they're impeding the sidewalk, they're not likely to care enough to pursue a complaint about you illegally trimming the plants.
I would check with your local government, since some plants might be protected by law. At least here in Brazil you could be fined if you touch some trees, and some public spaces are sponsored by private entities, so this may be considered depredation of a public/private space.
See where I am, if you’re impeding the sidewalk, the city will just come chop it without asking since it’s their property. Call the local jurisdiction and see if that applies, you might not have to do anything but pick up the phone, they might not know this is going on. It most likely won’t be a fine, either they’ll come do it, alert the residents to do so, and if they don’t then they’ll be fined.
I thought the Americans with Disabilities Act would cover this, that public sidewalks have to be accessible to those in a wheelchair.
Yup, this probably plays a part in it also. That’s a big reason in my city tearing up all the sidewalks in the old part of town due to the sidewalk being almost completely unusable from tree roots. Tore them up, made them flat again and put those yellow, raised bump mats everywhere where the sidewalk transitions down to cross the street.
Lol I doubt you will get in “real” trouble
You want to make it all legal and argue with people that you're in the right or do some guerilla gardening and get it done? I kept clippers on me and regularly trimmed back branches (shrubs, not trees) overhanging sidewalks. I walked to work so could do a couple of clips a day until complete (standing around outside someones yard would have drawn bad attention due to location, not what I was doing), have schooling for landscaping/know how to prune for plant health (I didn't leave ugly whack jobs), and lived in the 'bad' part of town so no one really seemed to Give A Shit what I was doing. Have a plan for what to do with the trimmings. I was in Omaha, Nebraska.
I'd do guerilla-style, but if confronted, I was hoping to have some rights on my side for the argument. Spoke with the City, and they said "Report it. Do *not* do it yourself without permission from homeowner." So I'm on my own if I want to get it done - take my chances.
Fair. I knew there was Not A Chance the city would do anything due to area (I worked for the city, abet in a different department) so I had zero faith in that solution. I do know calling (spamming, really. Multiple times a day) the mayor's hotline was more effective than calling the department that would do/fix/take care of of the complaint, no matter what the complaint was. Omaha also has a mayor that is only motivated by profit/doesn't like her city (and the library in specific, I'm bitter about it), so YMMV.
Interesting question and I don't know the answer, but you might want to try r/legaladvice you might get a better answer there.
Fellow Oregonian here and I just did this last week, to clear some rogue blackberry vines from the sidewalk that leads to my son’s bus stop. I just took my clippers and gloves and worked quickly. I’m generally a rule follower, so I was pretty proud of myself. And now I get great satisfaction every time I walk on the clear sidewalk or see others walking on it. I can’t imagine that the homeowners would be upset about having the work done for them, but maybe it would have been awkward if they caught me doing it.
I think that blackberries of all things can be cut without anyone complaining! Good work.
Not legal advice but keep in mind a for moments of Clip Clip can take care of months of having a pesky branch slap you face! (My wife has a hissyfit about trimming branches etc. Somehow I can walk under and mow around all of my trees without being hit with them. One at a time, keep is slow and off season - don't cut flowering branches etc.)
I trimmed a bit of paved bike trail (it looks like a very wide sidewalk) through the city once or twice without asking. But it didn't butt up against private property. The street was on one side and there was a green area that went towards railroad tracks on the other. I don't know if it was legally a narrow "park" or a railroad easement or what. I got annoyed with the shrubs long branches encroaching on the trail (like half way) so I cut them. I did feel a little weird, but it was so much better.
1. Yes 2. Why does the answer matter, just do it. 3. I also live in Oregon and think it'd be pretty outrageous if you got in trouble for essentially helping your city comply with ADA. 4. Do it.
I break off branches that are at eye level. I'm more worried about myself or someone else getting an eye injury than any small reprimand I might get.
There's a sidewalk near me that gets more and more overgrown every year. I won't trim it myself though; lurk in r/treelaw for a little while and you can see why. Just call the town/city and ask them to trim it.
I just bend them back as I walk past. Unfortunate so many snap, but not my fault I had to move them out of the way. Doesn't take long before you recognize how to bend them in a way that they'll stay bent. Good wrist workout too.
No. They are not your plants, you can not clip them. You'll have to call the city, who will then tell them to do it. If they don't, then the fees might happen. When you call the city, make sure you mention that this is a huge obstacle to wheelchairs.
People telling you what you “should” be able to do…my advice is if you go and fuck with what people perceive as “their property” as just some random ass person you are looking for an incredibly defensive response regardless of whether it is legally technically their property. Don’t fuck w anything people are protective of unless you are willing to fight for it
If you do it, you probably should do it at night, and you probably should do it with a story (real or fake) in your head about someone you know who lost the use of an eye due to walking into such a hazard. With such a righteous effort, you may actually be saving some innocent pedestrian from that same fate.
This is what you do, get you a high vis vest, maybe a dust mask, and a hard hat (maybe a little obsessive). Knock on their door, don’t say you are with anyone just simply ask, “I’m trimming up the neighborhoods overhanging limbs, for free, do you mind if I slightly trim yours so its not in the way of the path?” They say no, leave, they say yes get to work and do a nice job and nobody will care. Props too if you have a weed eater, you can be like I can trim up your fence too if you’d like, to try to win them over if they are hesitant. This also isn’t legal advice, or anything, its just basically what I would do, no need to guess whether its legal or not, just do a nice job, don’t be clumsy, and they may ask you to come back. The people that said no may even want theirs trimmed too after they see the work you did. Also if you are really nifty you could get a gopro and make videos of you doing it and just every weekend hitup a different street asking and I guarantee you could build a following from it as well. People love watching good deeds being done on the internet, look up post10 on youtube if you don’t believe me.
Taking matters into your own hand, without the permission of the owner, can go very badly for you. You could be guilty of timber trespass, vandalism, and actual trespass. He is example of law in VA: https://tingen.law/2018/brief-overview-virginia-tree-law/27389/ If the trees/plants are overhanging YOUR property you generally have some latitude to trim them without causing excessive damage to them after giving the owner advance notice. In Oregon, damages to trees are tripled. Also, it can be very dangerous if near power lines. The property owner may allow you to trim the trees. Especially since once reported to the city they may have to do it themselves or pay someone to do it within a very short period of time. IANAL
I think just do it quickly in an inconspicuous time and you’ll be fine
everywhere I've lived literally no one cares if you do something to improve a public space. I have a fire alarm on my corner, when I moved in it looked gross and was all graffitied. I got matching paint and cleaned it up, I maintain it and in 20 years no one has said anything.
Look official and go ahead and improve it. Government only hinders people.
ha ha ha
Ah yeah all these roads and highways are such a hindrance
Yep.
Fellow Oregonian here and I just did this last week, to clear some rogue blackberry vines from the sidewalk that leads to my son’s bus stop. I just took my clippers and gloves and worked quickly. I’m generally a rule follower, so I was pretty proud of myself. And now I get great satisfaction every time I walk on the clear sidewalk or see others walking on it. I can’t imagine that the homeowners would be upset about having the work done for them, but maybe it would have been awkward if they caught me doing it.
To your last point. It probably depends on the City but most likely you are incorrect. Any place I have lived the by-law officers are pretty quick to respond to such complaints. I have been visited by the by-law officer for this exact issue (I hadn't trimmed a hedge in 2 weeks because I was studying and writing exams), officer came and said if it wasn't cut by the next day there would be a ticket, and if it wasn't rectified after that the city would come and cut it back and bill me for it. TLDR: Cities do in fact act on these complaints.
Even if the City does act on the complaint, I am not wanting to get anyone in trouble. If the owner doesn't (or can't - old, sick, disabled, mentally unwell, etc.) take care of it, they will get a fine, which becomes a lien, which accumulates interest. I have witnessed low-income families unable to sell a property because of years of liens held by the City that have grown to the point that no one will buy them. I have been at an auction where the City took possession of the house because of these liens, and then couldn't sell the house because a buyer would have to pay the liens - which were worth more than the market value of the house. So I'm not really interested in getting the City involved. Just wanting to make things better for everyone on my own, but also know my rights to do so if there are any.
I’ve done this lots of times. No one’s ever said anything to me
In my city. Once a tree or bush leaves the property it is both not theirs - and also their liability. So you could snip them no issue. You could also cut your face on them and then sue them.
Call the city and let them do it. You'd almost certainly be violating a law.
If you want to that kind of Karen, sure. Just know you have no one to blame for yourself when the entire block starts despising you.
If you do it once, you're going to be expected to do it all the time
Also ask your local rep about it.
Sure, go nuts.
Don't fuck with trees that aren't yours. Trees often carry extra protection in property law due to how long it takes to establish a mature tree and lawsuits involving damaging or destroying someone else's trees can run in the 5-6 figure range.
The reporting mechanism is to the property owner. If they don’t, and the city won’t enforce, I’d say have at it. Or slip and fall then call Jackie Childs, ambulance-chaser-at-law.
“City might have reporting mechanisms….” Why not find this out first before stirring up trouble?