You know how you'll sometimes see "that guy" who approaches city workers while they're doing their job and bugs them, asking questions about how and why and all the rest? Maybe you yourself are in an occupation where you're often approached by him. Well, I am that guy. The only difference between me and all of the other guys (and girls) randomly asking questions out there is that I try to share what I learn with you here, and I'm not doing it simply because I'm curious but I think that everybody wants to know how and why things work the way they do in their city and maybe they're just sometimes too proud to ask. Essentially I'm rationalizing my being annoying by flipping it so that it appears as though I'm doing something heroic on your behalf. Humour me, dear readers.
In the past I've shared a few stories on this theme...
- Painting traffic lines HERE.
- Bumps in the sidewalk repaired HERE.
- Snowblowing bugs out of trees HERE.
A few weeks back I ran into some city workers near my home. A large branch had been sitting next to the sidewalk for a few days and these dudes came to pick it up. But they were there to do more than pick it up, they had a tape measure and a clipboard and I had to approach them to get the scoop. I had no choice.
The pink circle notes the bump in the sidewalk that was FIXED previously
What I learned was that every single one of the 138,000 trees that line the streets on public land, they're all accounted for in a massive database where their growth and status is tracked. So whenever there's a call and these arborists are called out to pick up a fallen branch they take that opportunity to give the tree a checkup and record it's girth and it's present status. The notes on the clipboard also say who made the call and the notes of that particular visit to the tree.
Again, I will note that THERE ARE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY EIGHT THOUSANDS street trees in Vancouver! Upon doing a little research I learned that the Park Board employs over 50 full-time arboriculture staff to inspect, prune, plant and maintain street trees like these guys were doing.
That. Is. Awesome!
