Back in the day, guerrilla gardening used to happen in Hudson. The row of trees, planted at Union and Third streets, along the north edge of what is now Wylde, is the work of a guerrilla gardener.
Before Eric Galloway took possession of the lot at the corner of Union and First streets and built two faux Greek Revival houses there in 2011, guerrilla gardeners transformed the vacant lot into a community garden and urban playground, where people from the neighborhood would gather on summer nights to play badminton.
The era of the guerrilla gardening in Hudson has ended. In its place, we have guerrilla pruning. A citizen has taken it upon himself to prune other people's trees, trees he decides have dangerously low-hanging branches. So far--at least so far as Gossips knows--the objects of his corrective action have been the honey locust trees in the 200 block of Union Street. In late June, he removed a branch from a tree on the north side of the street. In early July, it was a branch from a tree on the south side of the street. This past Saturday morning, he returned to the tree on the south side of the street to lop off a second branch. The security camera at the house where the tree is located captured this image of the stealth pruner on his first visit.
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Good to know! This happened to me last year when I was unable to get outside to prune due to a serious health issue and it felt a bit violating to have my tree hacked quite badly.
ReplyDeleteHe's not the only one... this weekend I was driving past my house and saw a woman filling up an entire paper grocery bag with blooms she cut off of our hydrangea bush. By the time I parked in the back and came out front she was gone. She snipped them all from one spot rather than taking one here and there to maintain the distribution of blooms. We would happily have let her have some if she'd just asked... just taking what she pleased was not exactly neighborly.
ReplyDeleteWhy not call him out by name? You know who it is. And sorry, but it's vandalism no matter what he thinks. Just like yelling at people about their recyclables is harassment.
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ReplyDeleteIt is the city's responsibility to enforce the code, not for someone to take it upon themself to do so. This is no different that when the group of people painted the crosswalk on State St. a few years back. Just like they were, this guy should be held responsible. Period.
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DeletePruning others' property, and taking their blossoms, seems risky business in a county where a large percentage of the adult population is licensed to carry concealed weapons and a larger percentage of homes have long guns. But, beyond that and certainly more likely, it's actionable and, trees being rather unique, especially in an urban environment, they are rather valuable. Vigilantism w/ a pruner is still vigilantism -- it's a trespass. No one has the right to trespass on another's property except in certain narrowly defined circumstances and pruning ain't one of them -- no matter how self-righteous the tresspasser may feel.
ReplyDeleteI support Bill's Common Council campaign... aside from the guaranteed comedy of future council meetings, mainly because it would be a catalyst of accelerationism that may finally break the current inept city government and usher in a new ear when competent people step in to pick up the pieces. Go Bill Go!
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