it has a seedpod that is not in fruit right now, but apparently irritates the skin. >> good. >> and you know, i want to do before we move up the street, there's something here, we have to go across the street and look at. >> poor fell la. what happened? >> what happened here. well, these trees were obviously, cut down, and we hope that they got a permit to do so. this is the permit application for anyone that wants to remove a tree in the public right of way. it is the same application you want if you want to remove a tree on private property, but within ten feet of the right-of-way. the ordinance that lien we advised to include the same protections for what is called significant trees. those are trees located on private property that happen to be within ten feet of the public right of way and also meet a certain size requirement, it is not just anything, it needs to

have, a diameter of the trunk. which is measured at 4 1/2 feet above grade, needs to be greater than 12 inches. the canopy with the -- width of the tree needs to be greater than 15 feet or the height of the tree would need to be greater than 20 feet. >> if that's the case, these would be significant tree, even if they were ten feet back from the public right of way. the public right of way is that edge of the sidewalk where it joins the building. >> that's right. >> at the edge. >> in most places in san francisco, it is pretty easy to tell where the public right of way ends, because people build to the lot line. there are areas where people, it looks like private property and it is a setback, but it is part of the public right of way. >> this tree would have had to have a permit to be removed, that permit would have had to have been posted for how long? >> typically 30 days, the public notification, goes on the tree, anyone that wants to protest that removal, if they send a letter within that 30 days t has to go to public hearing.

>> it goes to public hearing at the department of public works. >> that's right. >> the hearing officer makes a decision and the director issues an order to remove and that decision and the order are both appealable to the board of appeals and i go to the board of appeals and i see carla there every couple of weeks and people often appeal three permits, anytime you need a permit to replace a tree, remove a tree, anytime you need a permit, they're appealable, it turns out that trees like fences are some of the most contentious issue that is come to the board of appeals, they're there every three or four weeks, we see a big tree case. i don't want palm trees on my treat. i want a six-foot box. everybody is very strongly felt about trees, i think. it happens constantly. >> it really brings out people's passions, which, as an -- as a forester, i'm always gratified to see. >> you're passionate. >> but this are also a --

oftentimes conflicts between trees and properties and developing a property, putting in a garage, you happen to have a tree in front of your house, you want to build a garage, you have to get a permit to take it out, we may not grant it automaticly, it can be a process that is challenging. >> we won't issue a permit to put in a garage or a curb cut, that requires a removal of the tree, until we get the tree removal permit first. so there's not a fate i've got my garage built and you can't have the tree standing in the way. >> used to happen a lot. the trees were, everybody forgot about us and then the garage was there, and people would say, you can't tell me i can't use my garage. >> then the little streets, how who is responsible for the trees and gardens and everything else there. >> in most case, it is the adjacent property owner who are responsible. so even though those, when those streets dead end, we have a lot

in san francisco, they're unaccepted streets, it is too steep to build there, the street couldn't go through, the property owner, the public right of way, it is still where the street would have been. but the adjacent property owners have to take care of that area. in some cases they made beautiful gar dens and sometimes they do the minimum and sometimes they don't know they're responsible and it can get neglected. >> it is trees and gardens. >> tree landscapes, the way the ordinance phrases it, you have to maintain it in good condition. it is a little vague, so long as it is not a blighted area. it doesn't have to be a manicured lawn, but we don't want it to be overgrown weeds. >> there are recent aamendments that say you can't pave over the required landscape area, in the front setback, particularly, planning says you have to maintain a certain portion of that ads landscape area, people have been paving that for more

parking and we're starting to tighten up on that, in the city as well. >> okay, let's walk up the street here. okay. we're going to stop up here. and look at this. look at this cute little thing, what kind of tree is this? what are we looking at? >> that's the fruit of the strawberry tree. you can see the fruit t actually looks like a little strawberry and they are are edible, pe but they don't taste like strawberries, they don't taste like much at all actually. >> there's a difference between edible and good. >> that's right. it does not taste like a strawberry, but looks like a strawberry. it is really a great street tree, they don't get huge, a lot of people who have views or who have concerns about maintaining a very large tree, can choose a

tree like this, which will stay, fairly small in stature but develops a really nice canopy, you can see we're standing in front of the shade of the tree. >> how high does this have to be trimmed? >> it is supposed to be kept at eight-foot clearance, this aren't many eight-foot tall people. if it is going to damage the tree, we try to limit the pruning until the tree is big enough that it won't be damaged by that. >> i was wondering if you give advice, if someone has a particular house in a particular location, they know they need a tree, can you help them choose a good one? >> we can. if they're planting a tree in a sidewalk, they would fill out a tree planting permit application. it is really important, we encourage to contact us, because as i said earlier there, are species that won't do well in san francisco, and some of those windy foggy areas of the city, there's only a few tree that is will really thrive there. it is important to make sure you

get. >> they can call your office? >> they can call the bureau, get on the website, we have some information on the website about species, we're trying to bolster that, friends of the urban forest is a nonprofit group. they good information on their website about which trees do well. we're happy to give that kind of advice, because we much rather have a healthy urban forest. >> if they wanted to call you, what number would they call? >> the best number. well to get to the bureau directly, 641-2676. >> a pment to plant a tree, is there a charge? >> there's actually >> how much is it if there is one. >> there's no fee for the permit to plant a tree. and the reason being is that the board of supervisors decided they wanted to subsidize that, this is a purple leaf plum tree and a popular tree in san francisco. we see it all over the place, as you can see it has dramatic

purple leaves, it is very popular because of the springtime flowers, but it is not a very long lived tree, people are very drawn to it, but we need to remind them, that it is more of a short-term investment, with a tree like this, the other challenge that we have, is that, there are fruited, fruiting varieties, planted in san francisco and as you can all see, there's fruit on this tree. and, the problem with that is that the fruit, will drop and it can actually, become a pedestrian hazard. it is kind of hard and can smash in the sidewalk and become slippery and the fruits themselves are rolling. we generally don't encourage fruiting trees in the right of way. there are nonfruiting trees, we ask people to consider that, if they're interested in this tree.

>> we have all sorts of stuff happening here. and none of it good. >> does anyone know about this? >> yes it is, that's an olive, for whoever doesn't have a mike. >> if you look across the street, you can see what this tree probably used to look like. unfortunately, this is an example of what i described earlier, where you top the tree, you cut the top off it. a lot of times, when people see a tree there is really overpruned and you see new growth, and you see the tree is coming back, it is recovering. but actually, this is a sign of stress growth, the tree is trying to get as much leaf can nappy as it can. it is producing these sprouts. these won't be healthy or well attached to the main trunk, what they mean, if it ever gets big enough, they're going to start breaking off and they're going to fall on cars and the

sidewalk, and they're going to be a hazard. >> what probably happened here, would be my fes guess is somebody pruned the tree in order to allow them to see their sign or something and they considered this to be acceptable tree pruning, which doesn't meet anybody's standard. >> that's right. >> this is caused by someone doing this deliberately to the tree. >> in san francisco, this is illegal and you can be fined for it. and the fine, the minimum fine is $1,489. >> does somebody file a complaint for that to happen? >> they don't. manyifies get issued because we learn about them from a complaint. our office does not have enough staff to be inspecting every tree every year. and when they're privately maintained trees, it is harder for us to inspect them. if we get a call from the public or driving around doing our regular work and we see it, we can issue a fine to that property owner. and that, that sign often will end up also going to a hearing

where they'll try to appeal to the decision, but it is a real problem, as i said, not only does it damage the tree, but it creates these may not espn burdens down the road and city crews end up having to respond to that. >> what this is is a removal of the tree without removal permit is the ultimate bottom line here. >> they were probably. >> very effectively killed it. >> that's the problem. the good news is, you have to replace it, when people get a permit to remove a treer, they're almost always required to replace it, or have to pay for the tree. >> now across the street, we have a row of -- row of olives in good condition. >> they're in good condition, the nice thing about, olive trees is now they come in nonfruiting varieties, so they can be a street tree as well. and they're very long, lasting

trees. so, we, we, they're a great street tree. and they have a nice can nappy, which sometimes can be a challenge for the property owner to maintain, but ultimately it gives you a lot to work with. >> sometimes people are concerned because the signage above the store may be hidden by the tree can opy, and there's a conflict with commercial uses. >> that's right. in commercial &s we will find trees that are more upright. we help them plant away from the signs, it is nobody's best interest for them to be overpruned or the property owner to have a genuine commercial enterprise they're losing their signage for. >> any questions? >> >> you talked about using a lot of australian trees, the olive, the mediterranean, the -- we have other mediterranean trees that we like? >> we to. i'm still trying to get the city

to send me to itly to do more research. thank you. so far that hasn't resulted in anything but there are some italian tree that is we can plant, italian buck horn, and in some cases with the right conditions italian cypress can be planted. there are a variety of mediterranean trees. >> look at this. yeah. this is done. brand new. >> this is the same vandal that did the other one. >> here's a tree that hasn't been pruned to death, that has had other problems that led to its demise. >> that's right. this is a tree that again, if we can lurble i, if you look around, sometimes you can learn a lot of information about a tree. you can see, at the base of this tree, probably, that when it was young, i'm sure, somebody backed into it, when they were trying to get ow of their parking place and caused pretty serious trunk wound down here. so this side of the tree, we've

seen a lett of wounding, there's a lot of deadwood inside the tree. what has happened is now because of that, there's not enough healthy wood, the tree is starting to split apart, which we see on the side, that's essentially killing the tree. it is almost, dead, we got a tiny flush of green, this is an evergreen species, the same species as the tree behind you, which is a prive et, and it is not going to come back. >> to they need a tree removal permit to remove even a dead tree? >> that's right. we have to send a inspector out. if you're not familiar with trees, you may not realize it is not just leaf off right now. and we send out somebody and if we confirm the tree is dead, we'll issue the permit. believe it or not, unless it is a eminent hazard we, go through public note physician, we'll go through 15-day notification, so

the public knows the tree is going to come out. it is rare for us to get protests on a dead tree, but it happens. my hearing two months ago, the try did not have a single leaf on it and had been that way for close to ann mr., we still got a protest on it. so -- it happens. >> okay, we're going to walk up to market street, where we have a whole different program going. >> let's get in the shade. >> so we're on market street, we have a whole tree program here that, involves, the -- basically mono culture planting here. what do we have here.

>> these are london plain trees. they're planted all up and down market street, as you get further down, you know there are probably two rows of these trees planted in a box style. it is a mono culture, but it also really helps set that sense of place. so, as long as we don't plant them exclusively throughout the city, i don't think it is so bad, to have, this is really one of the defining features, these trees. >> just like delores street has pine trees -- palm trees, we have defined our major thoroughfares with particular species and that's actually considered to be a good design feature, urban design feature. >> it helps, one of the reasons why when the city does maintenance on a street that we have these major thoroughfare, then we can sure the prep yet trees are planted. if there's a problem with the species, we hope to keep up with the literature and learn things, so we can have plans for the

future. >> how is the health of this generally, this array. >> this is pretty good. >> generally? >> generally market street looks good. even on market street where they have big, mature trees, they get hit by cars, every once in a while you'll see a smaller tree, we're planting with the same species. >> right here at the next tree -- street we have a smaller replacement tree. >> that's right, that has probably been in the ground for ten years. we have smaller ones that we put in recently we, try to stick with the same pallet. >> what about the trees over by city hall. >> those are the same species as these trees here, this is a good question, because that's a type of pruning technique that is only applicable to a couple of species, and one is the the london plain sycamore trees. a lot of times people see the trees and say that's how you

prune it, cut it at the top. that's not what happened. >> when it is done, it is something you establish with the tree and cut back to the same place every year. you do not cut a new cut, which is essentially a wound dot tree. so sometimes, people will look at those trees and when we issue them a fine for really damaging, severely damaging a street tree, they'll say i cut it like at city hall. it is a very specialized pruning technique and only applicable to, i say only to sycamores. >> and what we're seeing here, is the bureau of urban forestry, ready to replace the sidewalk. >> that's right. the bureau of urban forestry has their own cement shop. the reason they dorks we have to maintain sidewalks around trees. this is our cement shop working, they're replacing a sidewalk and they make sure they frame out. >> and they need a must have her or shroud on their jackhammer,

by article 29 of the police code. they all have to have must have lers. they all do, nobody knows it but it is in this. good excellent, this is great. okay. so how long does it take to do a job like this. just like a couple of days. >> we started monday, there was prep work. lane closure. >> we had a bobcat. >> okay. >> and we got all of these. >> you're going to clean it out and graze the thing out. >> you frame it up there. >> framing for the pour. >> when do you think you'll pour? >> monday. >> that's pretty quick work for such a big job here. >> yeah. >> absolutely. >> with the bobcat, things do go fast. >> one thing we should make a note of, it is important when we take the whole side walk like this, we have to make sure that pedestrians have a safe place to go. part of what takes time on a job like this, we have to set up a whole new pedestrian walkway, so

they're safe and not in the work area. >> so karla, isn't this amazing stree? >> this is a beautiful tree. >> what kind of tree. >> sitriadora. lemon scented. >> it is beautiful. >> it has a nice truck and ibe creditably smooth bark. you'll see the bark flakes off a lot. and it plakes to the point it is almost completely smooth, and you actually get some really nice color variations in the bark, it is really beautiful. >> there are five more right in the -- in the center island, right around the corner from here. week see them right by the freeway. those must be, 80 muffs feet tall. >> they are definitely taller than the buildings across the way. they're very good size trees. luckily they have enough room to grow. the trunk on this one gets

substantial, we don't see these in the sidewalk area. >> this is not its full-size, these get a lot bigger than this, in another 30 years. >> much bigger. that's right. >> that's gorgeous. but we don't recommend this, for people to put in their sidewalk in front of their house. >> unless they lived with a wide sidewalk and they're able to do a oversized basin or maybe sidewalk landscaping w mae consider it. >> okay, great. >> let's talk about, let's talk about this. these are all over san francisco, these are from, new zealand, i believe. >> yep. the common name for the tree is the bobble brush, looking at the flower, it looks like a bottle brush. this one, is variety, is the, the china, there's another species of the same gina. do you smell lemons? >> a little bit. >> it is supposed to be lemon

scented. >> you can maybe smell a bit of lemon. that's what they say. >> anytime you see that, the citrus, those are indications, there's citrus or lenl scent to the tree. bottle brush is not hugely popular in san francisco because these flowers will, fall and they will get into your car, and they will blow through your vents and, i've heard complaints that they get very sappy and they stick on cars. >> i love these things. >> it does well and doesn't get too huge t a good hardy street tree. but we get complaints. >> they're similar to a lefto spermum. which is when captain cook

sailed, he would take leaves from these plants and make tea to cure scurvey. >> there are also, there's another tree that is new zealand native. it is called the new england crils tree. they will survive in the worst conditions, the saltiest s. they have pretty aggressive roots, you want to plant it with care, but it can be a big beautiful tree, and really. >> if you want to see the big, the biggest, most beautiful, metro -- that i know of, it is in the golden gate park as you go in the side entrance, right near the side entrance where the pond is, there's a huge one, it must be 80 feet tall with aerial roots coming down. it is gorgeous. they get enormous. >> they can. >> that's --

>> it is a great tree for some of our micro climb climates. one last thing, this in tree basin rnings what they're doing, they're creating, they're trying to reduce the tripping hazard and they put these pavers around the base of the tree, it is a good alternative to tree guard, what happens with the tree guards and it is something that we're working on right now in market street, it is very often, the tree f it doesn't grow perfectly out of the center of the guard, it will lean into the guard which skirts the trunk. if it gets too big, before you notice it is getting close to the trunk, it will start to grow into that, we prefer not to use tree guards except in special areas, a special design or planting, or pedestrian use. >> you say the metal grades? >> right. >> i see so many trees girdaled and they get girdaled by the tree guard. >> what you need to do here. >> you have to cut out the

metal. >> it can be time-consuming or expense pitch >> they're trying to make a break away. >> they're cast iron, so if you take a hammer, you can actually break around all the way around it. >> but i have unfortunately seen, i honestly have seen people around here with chisels, chiseling the tree around the tree grade, or guard. which of course kills the tree. so, oh well. >> if people are worried or they want to do something decorative, using a paver that is perm i can't believe, so it can get into the roots of the tree, that's a nice thing you can do. >> permable paving is something the city is encouraging. there's a group here working on permable paving issues, so we do more ground water recharge and fewer problems with putting storm water and high value of storm water. >> what i brought is the sidewalk landscaping permit,

gict this through the department, where if you have a wide enough sidewalk and the right conditions, you can take up the concrete and do planting and gadening there, unfortunately rkt we can't do it everywhere, because some sidewalks are so many pedestrians and it is too narrow that it might not make sense. sidewalks less than seven feet wide, thootr 0 they're not appropriate. in many cases you can do something, sometimes you can't do it where you have a tree, if you have infrastructure that won't allow you to plant a tree and you have a streetlight or a water box that is too close to the tree, you can do sidewalk landscaping and get permable pavement and get gardening, that's available too. >> thanks. i want to thank you for coming. and, thank carla short, and this is really great. herned a lot. and we saw a lot of trees, and if they have questions, they can call the bureau of forestry. >> and you can call 311 and they can direct you to our website,

where you download the forms. if you go to the city website and you look for bcw, there's a street tree that you click on, and we try to have good information up there, so it can help you at the outset, when you're ready to move, you give us a call. >> thank you, see you next the biggest issue in america today? segregation still exists... racism... the repression and oppression of women the educational system

stem cell research homeless people cloning government health care taxation announcer: so, is there anything you're doing to help make a change? i'm not really doin' anything. ummmm [sighs] got me on that one... >> the next time you take a muni bus or train, there could be new technology that could make it easier to get to your destination. many are taking a position of next bus technology now in use around the city. updated at regular intervals from the comfort of their home or workplace.

next bus uses satellite technology and advanced computer modeling to track buses and trains, estimating are bought stocks with a high degree of accuracy. the bus and train our arrival information can be accessed from your computer and even on your cellular phone or personal digital assistant. knowing their arrival time of the bus allows riders the choice of waiting for it or perhaps doing some shopping locally or getting a cup of coffee. it also gives a greater sense that they can count on you to get to their destination on time. the next bus our arrival information is also transmitted to bus shelters around the city equipped with the next bus sign. riders are updated strictly about arrival times. to make this information available, muni has tested push to talk buttons at trial shelters. rider when pushes the button, thext