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had my trees topped. Unfortunately, in 2002, one of my trees got involuntarily topped in a windstorm <br />and felt on the FG&E high voltage wire and caught on fue_ It burned until it dropped off the Tine and the <br />smoldering branch then fell onto my property, luckily not catching other brush on fire. This is a tree that <br />1-ias PGor.E lines running through it and is actively managed by FG&E to prevent this Type of problem. <br />Once again, professionals managing a redwood on a regular basis cannot stop large pieces of redwoods <br />from breaking off in winds. <br />Not of historic value <br />The redwood~trees in my yard were planted in the 1940's and 1950's by Andrew Darby who was the last <br />property owner. 2~ir_ Darby was wealthy and Lived in San Francisco and used this property as a "vacation <br />home" in the summers. He used very bad planning when he decided where to plant the trees on the <br />property. This has led to many of the problems that these trees are causing to my structures, sewer, <br />property line .and safety. My consulting arborist, Mark Bowman, came out in the fall of 2004 and did a <br />tree audit. He looked at the health of the trees, made recommendations and estimated the trees' ages. His <br />findings were that none of the redwoods on my property were more than 50 or 60 years old. If trees that <br />are 50 to 60 years old are the criteria for landmark status, then the Library Historic Commission has a <br />very big action item to get thousands of more trees that meet this criteria in San Leandro listed as <br />historic landmarks. My trees are not of historic value any more than many other San Leandro trees are. <br />You'll see on a separate page, the list of trees on my property with their estimated ages. <br />iVuisances <br />Initial bad planting design -.One redwood on my property is growing directly into my house and <br />damaging the foundation as well as the roof line: The house was there before the redwood tree was <br />planted. Another redwood tree is uprooting my patio which is going to cause me to pay to have part of <br />my patio cut away. Another tree is growing into my neighbor's yard tearing up her lawn and destroying <br />the fence. <br />Neighbors - I have ongoing problems with my neighbors who are sick and tired of my redwood trees <br />dropping their branches into their yards. They complain about the trees and their gardeners continuously <br />throw all the branches, needles, bark, etc. that land in their yards right back into mine forme to deal <br />with. I basically have to pay the costs of cleani3~g their yards as well as mine. This is unreasonable, <br />especially if I have no say in the matter. <br />Branches, needles, bark, seeds, cones =Redwoods are messy. They are constantly dropping something. <br />They are not an ornamental tree. My gutters are regularly clogged with their seeds. I spend up to a <br />hundred hours a year chipping and shredding tree branches and litter order to keep the yard maintainable <br />and safe. Ties is at a Large cost to me_ This ongoing maintenance is burdensome and endless. <br />Housing expansion - I may at some point decide to build another house on my property which is large <br />and can easily accommodate another house. I want to be able to decide how to develop my property <br />without having to be constrained by the bad design decisions that the last landowner incorporated into <br />his free planting decisions. <br />Growing into sewer line -There is a video that was made by the city of San Leandro that shows the <br />roots of one of my redwood trees having massively grown into the city main. This tree is 20 feet from <br />the city main so you can just imagine what it is doing to the sewer line on my property that it grows <br />literally on top of_ This has cost me thousands of dollars in plumbing fees over the last 6 years including <br />