Pruning Patrol
Why are you not interested in the biggest story of the year here in town: that everyone in the City of Santa Barbara now has to get a permit to get a tree pruned, and can be given a $500 citation if the city arborist does not like the way you have it done? Where is the outrage over such invasive behavior by government into our lives and property? Have we all become sheep? Some of the ordinance has been on the books for a while, but now the fine has increased and the permit law is new: You now have to pay $50 for a know-nothing bureaucrat to come to your house and say “yes” or “no” to your pruning ideas. That goes for the backyard as well if there is a road, street, or alley in the back. The only exception is if your tree is at least 20 or 30 feet from the road. Then you can prune your tree only 25 percent, and it must be in its traditional shape.
I have been a certified arborist for 30 years and he is treating our people as if they are infants. Why has the city council permitted this to happen? Don’t we have one person on the council who will stand up for the people’s rights?
