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Resident: 'This Was All Shade Before'

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By KENNETH KNIGHT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

TEMPLE CREST - TEMPLE CREST - Terry Neal is passionate about his neighborhood and its river, streets and trees.

As president of the neighborhood civic association, he shoulders the added weight of representing the interests of his friends and neighbors at city hall.

However, he took it personally when tree trimmers hired by Tampa Electric Co. went to work last month on the gigantic, moss-draped live oaks that tower over the neighborhood's streets.

"I have never been this vocal before," Neal said. "TECO has always been cooperative. This has been a nightmare."

Neal lamented the damage to the tree canopy that dances over River Hills Drive and other tree-lined streets, offering pedestrians and bicyclists respite from the sun on hot summer days.

"There's a 50-50 chance it'll never come back," he said.

Neal, who admitted he is not a tree-trimming expert, said he understood the need to cut back trees in preparation for the hurricane season. However, he believes the work far exceeded what was necessary to protect the power lines.

"This was all shade before," Neal said, pointing at the open top of a live oak tree in front of his house at 4703 River Hills Drive. "It's like this all the way down the road." So focused on the jagged treetops that now barely reach the street, he hardly noticed the stream of cars that zipped closely by.

"There were three branches on the upper canopy that were not interfering with the electric line," he said. "They won't grow back. They are going to send shoots up in the air and sun shining on the road."

Neal said he was angry and felt duped by the power company.
TECO spokesman Rick Morera said the tree trimmers the company hires are required to adhere to industrywide standards, which allows branches to be trimmed back 8 to 10 feet from a power line. Some limbs, he added, are cut back farther to ensure the long-term health of the tree.
Morera said he understood the frustration, but maintaining the safety and reliability of the system takes priority.

"When we do tree trimming, it's always an issue over the visual, or aesthetic, impact over utility standards," he said.

Neal said he felt no care was given to preserve the beauty and majesty the trees represent in the neighborhood.

Frustrated after examining the tree-trimming work on River Hills Drive, Neal began making calls to the city neighborhood liaison office and sending e-mails to other neighborhood association representatives, TECO and city officials to complain.

"I got calls from Seminole Heights, Hyde Park and Beach Park," he said. "They told me they are doing the same thing in their neighborhoods."

Neal made pleas to the Tampa City Council and Hillsborough County Commission.

In an e-mail last week to the council and Commissioners Kevin White, Mark Sharpe and Brian Blair, Neal asked: "May I have some help from City Council and the County Commission or whoever is supposed to be enforcing the rules in this city and county to reel in TECO and their butchering tree-cutting methods?"

Shannon Edge, the city's director of neighborhood and community relations, said she was familiar with the issue and understood Neal's concern.

"We felt horrible," Edge said, "but it's not in our jurisdiction. It's Tampa Electric's."

Edge said she would continue to be a sounding board for Neal and other residents displeased with tree-trimming efforts in their neighborhoods.

Susan Long, president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association, said more should be done to preserve trees in the city.

"If you are not home when they show up, they whack away," she said.

Long said she finds it disheartening when city officials are encouraging residents to take care of their trees. She called TECO's tree trimming efforts "counterproductive."

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842 or kknight@tampatrib.com.

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