A San Francisco community has been left gobsmacked after trees and shrubs in local yards were decimated by a person wielding a machete that was attached to a pole.
Homeowners and tenants on Harrison Street near Precita Park woke up to various plant debris scattered along the sidewalk. A camera captured the person walking down the road at 5 a.m. on July 16.
One resident told Mission Local that they anticipate around $2,000 in damages was caused by the unauthorized pruning, with several rare varieties of plants cut down in their prime.
These plants would not only have provided joy to locals who were cultivating their yards, but they would have brightened up the area, encouraged the presence of pollinators, provided natural shading and cooling, and would have helped to improve air quality by sucking in and storing airborne toxins.
What's more, they would likely have improved the mental health of those living on the street, as time spent around natural growth has been proven to boost happiness. Someone was apparently not so thrilled by the presence of the plants, though.
It's not just disgruntled people who seem to object to thriving plant life on people's property. Homeowners associations and landlords often both object to lush domestic landscapes, despite the numerous benefits they can bring. Some tenants have even seen unauthorized work carried out on their gardens despite not receiving permission from these parties.
You can talk to property managers and owners about the benefits of swapping a typical monoculture lawn for native plant gardens, and perhaps they might come around to your line of thinking. If the person with the machete is caught, they might need a similar talk.
San Francisco Public Works, the body responsible for the care and maintenance of San Francisco's streets, denied any involvement with the garden grooming.
"We are sending inspectors out to take a look at the tree and gather more information," the agency's Beth Rubenstein told Mission Local. "At this point I don't know for sure who did it, but it does suggest vandalism in the way the tree is chopped and the branches left on the sidewalk."
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