City trees causing
cleanup frustrationSome residents object
to sweeping up fallen
flowers and leaves
Every morning, 88-year-old Vivian Higa rakes the purple flowers that fall into her yard from trees planted on the city-owned grassy strip outside her home. By afternoon, she needs to rake another wave of flowers.
"I cannot keep up with it," Higa said. "I would really appreciate it if they chop down the trees."
Higa and other residents around the island are frustrated with picking up the flowers, leaves and twigs that blow into their property, especially at this time of the year. The trees don't even belong to them; they belong to the city.
Higa's neighbor, Jane Watanabe, 75, wrote letters to the state and city in October requesting that the city cut down the trees or help with the cleanup.
"I'm tired of doing somebody else's dirty work," Watanabe said. "The tree is annoying me. It has to go."
The pink tecoma tree outside Higa's home on Komo Mai Drive in Pacific Palisades was planted to beautify Oahu's neighborhoods. But Higa and Watanabe said it's a nuisance.
The tecoma tree blooms every spring with an abundance of colorful flowers and causes plenty of work where they fall. Watanabe said it takes her at least two hours to pick up all the flowers that fill an entire 30-gallon trash bag.
In Kailua, Jean Riehl nicknamed the tecoma tree outside her house the "rubbish tree." Riehl grew up in Kailua raking up the flowers and now has her children clean them every week.
"It's pretty at first, but then they turn into a droopy brown mess," Riehl said.
However, the trees can't be cut down. In response to Watanabe's letter, the city said trees can be removed only if they are dead, dying, diseased or damaged. The city is dedicated to preserving trees, said city spokeswoman Carol Costa, and destroying a city tree is against the law.
That doesn't solve the problems of residents who are responsible for keeping their property free of litter, according to a city ordinance.
"As far as this situation goes, we ask people to see if perhaps a neighbor or relative might be able to assist them," Costa said.
Oahu has more than 240,000 street trees planted under the city Division of Urban Forestry. The trees the city plants the most are shower trees, tulip wood, silver trumpet and the pale kou, Costa said.
"We don't take living trees out," Costa said. "There will be just as many people who see it for its shade and beauty."
A few residents call the city to complain about trees, she said. But many request the city plant trees outside their home
Gina Carnazzo appreciates the city's attempts to keep Hawaii beautiful and is a tree fan herself, growing more than 10 kinds in her Kailua back yard. But she also understands her neighbor's frustration.
"It's so, so nice to have trees," she said. "But maybe the city should allow different trees that don't create such a big mess."
Residents can call the city if a tree is getting in the way of wires or if it obstructs people's sight line, and the city will send an inspector to examine it, Costa said. The Division of Urban Forestry, Department of Parks and Recreation, can be reached at 971-7151.
City & County of Honolulu
www.co.honolulu.hi.us