In the Works - Community Newsletter In the Works July 2017 | Page 8

Mayor Ed Lee joined us at the
July 19 event on 23rd Street
in Noe Valley that featured a
tree pruning demonstration by
our Bureau of Urban Forestry
crews, showing residents how
Public Works cares for their
neighborhood trees.
Thanks to the overwhelming
support of San Francisco voters,
the City now has sustainable
funding – a $19 million set-
aside from the City’s General
Fund.
Proposition E, which was
approved by 79 percent of voters
in the November 2016 election,
created a comprehensive
municipal tree maintenance
program that will allow Public
Works to care for the City’s
nearly 125,000 street trees and
fix tree-related sidewalk damage.
The change went into effect the
1st of July.
Prior to Street Tree SF, property
owners held most of the
responsibility for street tree
maintenance. Not only did this
put a financial burden on them,
it also resulted in uneven, and at
times inadequate, tree care.
The stable funding under Street
Tree SF provides Public Works
– for the first time – the ability
to put San Francisco’s street
trees on a regular pruning cycle,
based on their species and
condition. This is a real game-
changer that will allow our
urban forest to thrive.
Before Proposition E took
effect, the City conducted a
comprehensive tree census
that identified all street trees,
noting their species, location
and condition. We’ll be using
this information to craft a tree
maintenance plan that will allow
us to start with the worst trees
first.
The pruning of street trees will
be prioritized based on safety
considerations, structural flaws
and necessary clearances for
overhead wires, traffic signs and
signals, adjacent buildings and
traffic flow. This is expected to
take several years, and routine
pruning of street trees is
anticipated to begin in 2020.
Proposition E grew out of the
San Francisco Urban Forest
Plan, which was overseen by
the Planning Development in
collaboration with Public Works,
the Urban Forestry Council and
Friends of the Urban Forest,
the nonprofit that provided
instrumental support in winning
backing for the ballot measure.
The plan found that the split
maintenance responsibilities
were not in the best interests
of the health of San Francisco’s
urban forest because care was
inconsistent. Now, it ’ s a new day
for San Francisco's street trees.