Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning| Palo Alto USA

Eric Frei · 16th May 2010, 10:26 AM

Out of control is all can say, fancy arresting and threatening to jail a 61 year old cancer ridden grandmother over hedges.

One Nation Under Arrest: Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News.

Quote:

How should a city treat one of its long-time, law-abiding citizens if her mature, decades-old hedges offend aggressive new standards set by city bureaucrats? What if this citizen is a 61-year-old grandmother fighting breast cancer? The answer the City of Palo Alto, California, provided to these questions was to send out two police officers to arrest Kay Leibrand in front of her home and neighbors and to charge her as a criminal.

As explained in One Nation Under Arrest, The Heritage Foundation’s new book on overcriminalization, this was an oppressive use of the power to prosecute and punish someone as a criminal – the greatest power any civilized government regularly uses against its own citizens. The City of Palo Alto had numerous other, less oppressive legal options available to it. More and more government officials, however, are using criminal punishment as a brute force weapon for “solving” every problem – regardless of whether that problem is serious or trivial or whether more appropriate and less oppressive options are available.

Kay Leibrand’s “offense” was that her street-side xylosma bushes were more than two feet tall. After this cancer-ridden grandmother had her fingerprints taken, had posed for a mug shot, and was arraigned, she was faced with a criminal fine or jail time. This was all because Palo Alto bureaucrats had suddenly decided to engage in hyper-aggressive enforcement of one of its municipal code provisions and to make an example of dangerous scofflaws like Mrs. Leibrand.

Ever since they moved in to their earth-tone bungalow on a corner lot in 1966, Mrs. Leibrand and her husband had taken pride in gardening with California’s native plants. The xylosma hedges went in a few years later. Before Palo Alto targeted her, the hedges had never generated any complaints and no one ever suggested, for example, that they impaired visibility or played a role in any accident at the intersection.

As a result, Mrs. Leibrand was shocked to receive a “Notification of Violation” from Palo Alto in 2001. Despite being in her eleventh year of battling cancer, she promptly trimmed her hedges. Just a few weeks later, though, the city sent Mrs. Leibrand a second notification. After taking the time to trim her hedges further, Mrs. Leibrand and her husband both inspected the hedges and their intersection and confirmed once again that visibility was unimpaired. Mrs. Leibrand then asked Palo Alto’s Code Enforcement Officer to come to her property to verify that the bushes did not impair visibility or pose a safety hazard.

Remarkably, the Code Enforcement Officer refused. He said that Mrs. Leibrand’s case had become “high profile.” He would not, therefore, exercise his discretion to grant her a waiver from Palo Alto’s unprecedented enforcement action. By the Code Enforcement Officer’s refusal to check the “crime scene,” the city failed to ensure that its enforcement action was fulfilling the spirit and purpose of the ordinance, which was designed to promote greater visibility and public safety.

Mrs. Leibrand then wrote a letter to Palo Alto’s Chief Planning Official explaining the situation and pleading for fairness. Throughout this battle with the city, Mr. and Mrs. Leibrand had provided photographs showing similarly offending shrubs throughout Palo Alto. The city’s response demanded that Mrs. Leibrand essentially chop down her hedges and threatened her with criminal prosecution. Mrs. Leibrand had pruned her bushes twice. For that reason and due to weather and her illness, she said, she would not prune them again. She added, “I am not convinced that the plants are a safety hazard” and noted the numerous “stop sign violations, speed, and cut-through traffic” that occurred at the intersection.

Palo Alto referred the situation to a Special Legal Counsel who apparently recommended that the two Palo Alto police officers be sent to her home to make the arrest. After she was booked, and as an additional indignity before releasing her, the officers demanded a sworn statement that Mrs. Leibrand – a Palo Alto resident for over three decades – would not flee the jurisdiction before trial.

Needless to say, Mrs. Leibrand felt singled out for criminal punishment. She was never even afforded a hearing on her hedge trimming before the city arrested her. When she wrote to the Palo Alto city manager explaining her unfair treatment, city officials demonstrated little decency toward a respectable, long-term resident. Their response was to issue a press release proudly announcing that they had arrested and arraigned this oh-so-dangerous criminal. Palo Alto officials and bureaucrats had used the criminal law to create the public example they needed to “encourage” other residents to conform to the city’s aggressive shrub-pruning regime.

Soon after Mrs. Leibrand pleaded not guilty and her case was set for trial by jury, Palo Alto officials began negotiating with her to settle the charges. To avoid jail time, Mrs. Leibrand agreed to mow her xylosma hedges down to stumps and make a donation to a tree-planting organization.

Sadly, four months after losing her battle for reasonable treatment at the hand of the City of Palo Alto, 61-year-old Kay Leibrand also lost her long-term battle against cancer.

Garry Brockley · 16th May 2010, 12:07 PM

I hope they rot in hell for their treatment of that lady, they see an easy target and go for it.
i hope they all suffer guilt for the rest of their days, beauracracy sucks in alot of ways and this is the worst way.
go chase the real criminals muggers, thieves, murderers, paedo's, rapists, drug dealers ect and leave the conforming people of society alone.

jmcg.insight.gardens · 16th May 2010, 07:27 PM

Talk about pick on Grandma, that is excessive treatment, it seems she complied but not to the letter of the law.

Quote:

As a result, Mrs. Leibrand was shocked to receive a “Notification of Violation” from Palo Alto in 2001. Despite being in her eleventh year of battling cancer, she promptly trimmed her hedges. Just a few weeks later, though, the city sent Mrs. Leibrand a second notification. After taking the time to trim her hedges further, Mrs. Leibrand and her husband both inspected the hedges and their intersection and confirmed once again that visibility was unimpaired. Mrs. Leibrand then asked Palo Alto’s Code Enforcement Officer to come to her property to verify that the bushes did not impair visibility or pose a safety hazard.

Shame on you all, the people concerned, it seems that she did try to comply but simply didn't get the assistance she asked for from that officer. I hope he can sleep at night.

Quote:

I hope they rot in hell for their treatment of that lady, they see an easy target and go for it.
i hope they all suffer guilt for the rest of their days, beauracracy sucks in alot of ways and this is the worst way.
go chase the real criminals muggers, thieves, murderers, paedo's, rapists, drug dealers ect and leave the conforming people of society alone.

They won't suffer guilt, they are just a bunch of pencil-necks.

so unfair

Julie

sueann · 16th May 2010, 11:14 PM

That is just so shameful. That poor lady had to spend her last days being harassed by a bunch of bureaucratic flipdicks.

windthrown · 17th May 2010, 07:41 AM

This is really old news. I was still living down there when this happened. Palo Alto is a money-centric suburb with so many rules and regulations it is absurd. I have spent a lot of time there myself, and my ex-ex lives one block into Menlo Park from Palo Alto. The entire town has a 25 MPH speed limit, with exception of highway 101 (the major freeway) and El Camino Real. It like living in Singapore I guess, where everything from jacking off to spitting are illegal.

Around here it is the opposite; people get slapped around for cutting trees and shrubs. In Lake Oswego, the equivalent to Palo Alto in the Portland, Oregon area, any tree over 5 feet tall cannot be cut without a permit (correction: 5 inches DBH, and with the exception of Laurel). A permit requires an arborist report, counsil review and approval, and lots of notices posted in the neighborhood and where the tree is to be cut. The tree huggers rule there. They are also trying to expand and impose their same permit laws into the unincorporated county areas now (as well as annex greater areas into the city for their tax rolls). My landlord is gonna get stuck with these extra-tall trees here, and I advised that he cut them while he still can.

dov · 17th May 2010, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windthrown

This is really old news. I was still living down there when this happened. Palo Alto is a money-centric suburb with so many rules and regulations it is absurd. I have spent a lot of time there myself, and my ex-ex lives one block into Menlo Park from Palo Alto. The entire town has a 25 MPH speed limit, with exception of highway 101 (the major freeway) and El Camino Real. It like living in Singapore I guess, where everything from jacking off to spitting are illegal.

Around here it is the opposite; people get slapped around for cutting trees and shrubs. In Lake Oswego, the equivalent to Palo Alto in the Portland, Oregon area, any tree over 5 feet tall cannot be cut without a permit (with the exception of Laurel). A permit requires an arborist report, counsil review and approval, and lots of notices posted in the neighborhood and where the tree is to be cut. The tree huggers rule there. They are also trying to nexpand and impose their same permit laws into the unincorporated county areas now (as well as annex greater areas into the city for their tax rolls). My landlord is gonna get stuck with these extra-tall trees here, and I advised that he cut them while he still can.

Anything over 5 feet? So pretty much anything from a sapling to a decent sized hedge or even a largish rose bush is classified as a protected tree? Freaky...

I think if I had to live in a place like that I'd develop a passion for concrete and Chrysanthemums.

windthrown · 17th May 2010, 05:44 PM

Oops, my bad. Anything larger than 5 inches DBH. Small trees and up. Here is the Lake Oswego 'Draconian Tree Text.' Note the snotty attitude snubbing Portland, but where tree cutting is almost as strictly regulated. The lake in Oswego was an open sewer for many years, and still is pretty bad. When I was a kid, Lake Oswego had few trees. They were all flattened by a typhoon in the early 1960s. How soon they all forget!

http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/Plan/Tree...%20REMOVAL.pdf

windthrown · 17th May 2010, 05:51 PM

This is like the case in Palo Alto... this guy was fined over and over for 'tree violations' in Lake Oswego.

Lake Oswego’s Parker facing 16 new tree code citations

The violations include: Seven counts for failure to maintain tree protection fencing; five counts for failure to maintain required tree protection signage; two counts for storing materials (such as boulders, pipes and pallets) in a tree protection zone; one count of development within a tree protection zone; and one count of having chemically injurious materials in a tree protection zone (wet masonry was found splashed up against the trees).

I mean $1,000 per violation for this crap? Signage? Storing loose stuff? Splashing cement on bark? Get a rope!

Good god, he could (and probaby should) have just dropped the damn trees! Now I have to go to the next county meeting here and blast these idiots that want more of this type of regulation in the unincorporated county areas here. Seriously, the county areas are better managed than these cities, and the stands are in better shape. But oh nooooooooooo!

16th May 2010, 12:07 PM	#2
Garry Brockley Bayside Tree Care Brisbane Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Brisbane Aus Posts: 1,641	Re: Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning\| Palo Alto USA I hope they rot in hell for their treatment of that lady, they see an easy target and go for it. i hope they all suffer guilt for the rest of their days, beauracracy sucks in alot of ways and this is the worst way. go chase the real criminals muggers, thieves, murderers, paedo's, rapists, drug dealers ect and leave the conforming people of society alone. __________________ My business:- Brisbane Bayside Tree Care

16th May 2010, 11:14 PM	#4
sueann Former Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Hunter Valley Australia Posts: 599	Re: Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning\| Palo Alto USA That is just so shameful. That poor lady had to spend her last days being harassed by a bunch of bureaucratic flipdicks.

17th May 2010, 07:41 AM	#5
windthrown Former Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In the Great Pacific Northwest Posts: 1,207	Re: Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning\| Palo Alto USA This is really old news. I was still living down there when this happened. Palo Alto is a money-centric suburb with so many rules and regulations it is absurd. I have spent a lot of time there myself, and my ex-ex lives one block into Menlo Park from Palo Alto. The entire town has a 25 MPH speed limit, with exception of highway 101 (the major freeway) and El Camino Real. It like living in Singapore I guess, where everything from jacking off to spitting are illegal. Around here it is the opposite; people get slapped around for cutting trees and shrubs. In Lake Oswego, the equivalent to Palo Alto in the Portland, Oregon area, any tree over 5 feet tall cannot be cut without a permit (correction: 5 inches DBH, and with the exception of Laurel). A permit requires an arborist report, counsil review and approval, and lots of notices posted in the neighborhood and where the tree is to be cut. The tree huggers rule there. They are also trying to expand and impose their same permit laws into the unincorporated county areas now (as well as annex greater areas into the city for their tax rolls). My landlord is gonna get stuck with these extra-tall trees here, and I advised that he cut them while he still can. Last edited by windthrown; 17th May 2010 at 05:47 PM.

17th May 2010, 05:44 PM	#7
windthrown Former Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In the Great Pacific Northwest Posts: 1,207	Re: Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning\| Palo Alto USA Oops, my bad. Anything larger than 5 inches DBH. Small trees and up. Here is the Lake Oswego 'Draconian Tree Text.' Note the snotty attitude snubbing Portland, but where tree cutting is almost as strictly regulated. The lake in Oswego was an open sewer for many years, and still is pretty bad. When I was a kid, Lake Oswego had few trees. They were all flattened by a typhoon in the early 1960s. How soon they all forget! http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/Plan/Tree...%20REMOVAL.pdf

17th May 2010, 05:51 PM	#8
windthrown Former Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In the Great Pacific Northwest Posts: 1,207	Re: Criminalizing Unsatisfactory Hedge Pruning\| Palo Alto USA This is like the case in Palo Alto... this guy was fined over and over for 'tree violations' in Lake Oswego. Lake Oswego’s Parker facing 16 new tree code citations The violations include: Seven counts for failure to maintain tree protection fencing; five counts for failure to maintain required tree protection signage; two counts for storing materials (such as boulders, pipes and pallets) in a tree protection zone; one count of development within a tree protection zone; and one count of having chemically injurious materials in a tree protection zone (wet masonry was found splashed up against the trees). I mean $1,000 per violation for this crap? Signage? Storing loose stuff? Splashing cement on bark? Get a rope! Good god, he could (and probaby should) have just dropped the damn trees! Now I have to go to the next county meeting here and blast these idiots that want more of this type of regulation in the unincorporated county areas here. Seriously, the county areas are better managed than these cities, and the stands are in better shape. But oh nooooooooooo!

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