I’m confused. I thought the city was short on dollars to pay for services.

I was home for lunch today and saw a municipal vehicle with a chipper pull up in front of a neighbor’s house and proceed to gather and chip a pile of limbs and brush from a tree that came down in my neighbor’s yard during the Sept. 4 storm.

I found this somewhat curious. I went out to ask the foreman what has going on. His reply was that he was from street maintenance and anything in the 10-foot easement had to be removed by the city.

Now, the tree itself was inside the 10-foot easement, but the brush had been piled in the easement. So, I said to the foreman that I lost nine trees in the storm and spent $1,500 to remove them and the brush; so based on your guidance, if I had taken the trees down and piled them in the easement, the city would remove them. His reply was, I’m just doing what I was told.

— Lawrence Bethel
Anchorage