UI's Treemageddon: Community Forms Petition

Do you like trees? 

From Change.Org
This is a Petition to Stop United Illuminating's Enhanced Tree Trimming and Enhanced Tree Removal Plans in New Haven. This petition is a grass-roots effort to complement legislation to protect New Haven’s trees, proposed by Alder Michael Stratton, that will be considered by the Board of Alders on February 3.

It currently has almost 700 signatures, but is looking for 1000+. If you like trees, you should sign this and tell others to sign it too.

United Illuminating (UI) has begun a pilot tree removal program that will needlessly cut down trees in New Haven and other UI service areas. So if you don't like trees, here are the Official Dockets.

UI plans to remove healthy, curbside trees taller than approximately 15-20’ under utility lines and and severely trim tree branches from nearby trees in a practice called Enhanced Tree Trimming (ETT). The practice has also been referenced by CL&P as Enhanced Tree Removal (ETR), which is more fitting given the overall goal. In the past UI provided selective trimming in a U or V shape around power lines, if trimming was needed at all.

This is a screen shot on Feb. 11. Click to sign.

This basically means that they are planning on taking the authority to cut down just about every single tree in New Haven, in order to cut costs to their own operations.

"Common-sense selective trimming worked well for over a hundred years in Connecticut when responsible routine maintenance by the utility companies has occurred," says the petition.

“Beyond beautification, it is estimated that New Haven's street trees currently save the city about $4 million dollars per year. These savings come through reducing storm water runoff, improving air quality and public health, and lowering energy bills, among other things.” [Source: Yale]

The Connecticut Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) last reviewed UI’s plans on Wednesday, January 29.

Leaves Pile Up

Large quantities of fallen leaves cluttered the margins of city streets where cars are usually parked. The Dept. of Public Works deployed large equipment to shovel the leaves.  Occasionally large piles of dry leaves underneath recently parked cars may cause fires.  Street cleaning is a mandatory part of normal city maintenance. 

If your street is being cleaned this week, check for signs indicating what day not to park your car.  There have been many streets in recent days that have been slated for cleaning.  Typically if your car is parked on a street scheduled for cleaning, the vehicle is ticketed and the owner is given a mandatory fee for being towed; the two fines combined can be upwards of about $200, and the process of reacquiring the vehicle can be time-consuming.  

Public Works: Dialing It In

Traffic and Parking worker replaces traffic light 

If you're a fan of amazing weather, then today's the day for you.  Lots of things happening this week; from the Shakespeare in the Park plays going on until Sept.1 to an opportunity to help plan a new neighborhood with some architects.

You'll also find that tomorrow at 3pm, the Dream Project will be happening on the Green. Declare your dreams there; I'm sure that to say it will be interesting is an understatement.

Get to know this place, because, if even for the time being, you call it home.  ET Phone home!


Elsewhere in town, there have been some minor other traffic lane closures.  This one is on Park and Chapel Streets.  It appears that there is a Ninja Turtle excavation project under way at that location.  There were also some lane closures on Howe Street; all in the name of civic improvement.  It takes much effort to keep a city running.  Stay tuned and we'll try to keep you informed on the latest developments, opportunities, and news in town; all in the same high definition quality of video and imagery, with all links functional and most of the spelling and grammar correct.

Who is Jimmy Rogers?

John Prokop, outgoing director of DPW

John Prokop, director for the Department of Public Works in #Nhv is retiring today.  A colleague recommended he speak with Nhv.Org in producing a showcase piece about one of his employees, Jimmy Rogers.

Edwin Martinez, Refuse Supervisor

John spoke of Jimmy in the highest regard.  He described him as a laborer who was dedicated to his family and who brought together the working community.  I went on a run with Jimmy and his partner on Tuesday, January 24th, 2013, to see what a day on the job was like for the workers of the DPW.

Enjoy this video, and hopefully there will be many others like it.  This city is a pretty amazing place.  Do you wonder where your trash goes?

These are the guys who take care of it for you.  Each one has their own life, full of unique experiences and important moments.  Nhv.Org wishes to capture those moments so we can share these experiences as a community.