Got home from the Rangers-Angels game last night 'round 11ish only to find two Oncor trucks parked on the street behind the house. Seems they'd been called to emergencarily trim trees in the power lines causing sparks to shoot high into the night sky. Which is funny: I've been up Oncor's ass for months about limbs tangled in the lines behind my house, not 50 feet from last night's fireworks display. And, still, nothing. This, despite the fact that, oh, just a few days ago sparks were once more raining down in the alley.
Oh, well. Gives me something pretty to look at. Especially when it's windy.
Guess I could call Brenda Jackson. I should call Brenda Jackson. I'll call Brenda Jackson.
Till I find the time between Unfair Park items, Oncor sends word: It's rolling out two tree-trimming "pilot programs" based on complaints from touchy customers. And, wow, is it touchy-feely all right:
The first [program] will deploy a team of certified arborists who as part of the pre-planning process will personally meet with customers whose trees need to be pruned to minimize outages, and the second will allow the customers at their cost to decide on a minimum pruning option. ... For the pre-planning pilot, arborists will be visiting with customers prior to pruning to explain what they can expect and provide answers to their questions about the pruning that is needed. The arborists will be meeting at the customers' homes so each cut on each tree can be discussed if the customer desires.Lakewood's up first. Of course it is. Son of a birch.
For the alternate tree maintenance agreement, customers will sign a contract agreeing to hire a line-clearance qualified tree company to prune their trees to a distance that best meets their needs. Oncor would prune the first seven feet away from the lines -- maintaining the minimum required by the state and giving the customer time to shop for a line-clearance qualified tree company -- allowing customers to decide how much more to prune. With the contract, the customer agrees to keep the lines outside of the seven-foot zone.
