It is only a few minute drive to get to the heart of downtown from where I live. It is less than two miles. I was headed down town today and I had something happen that I just have to tell you about.

Our downtown is beautiful. It really is. Anyone who has ever been to Savannah would likely have a hard time asserting otherwise. Having been founded as Georgia’s First City in 1733, Savannah today is chock full of old historic buildings as a result. We were apparently the first “planned city” in America.

Our downtown roads are narrow, and they wind as one-ways around twenty-four historical parks, called Squares. As a result, it can make driving and maneuvering through the city a bit of a challenge to those who are unfamiliar.

It also makes it incredibly difficult for work-type trucks, such as FedEx, UPS, food service shippers, etc. Trucks have to proceed with incredible caution when navigating our historic downtown area. Not only do they need to stay within the narrow roads (likely with cars parked on both sides), but they also have to remain on their toes in order to avoid slow-moving trolley tours, and even-slower-moving horse drawn carriages.

Navigation is even more difficult for the drivers of large vehicles because of our trees. We have thousands of beautiful, old trees lining every single street in the downtown area (and most of midtown, and some of the south side for that matter).

So, on my way downtown today, I turned down E. Bryan Street (image), an east-west street that runs from E. Broad Street to W. Broad Street (MLK, Jr. Blvd). I found myself behind a large semi-type truck. You know this kind of truck– it is the type that picks up and drops off large, industrial-sized dumpsters for construction workers to fill, and then picks them up to be emptied.

I could tell that this truck, labeled “Robco Environmental,” was going to have troubles. He made it through the first square just fine– there were little to no trees along the south side of the street.

We hit the second square, and the troubles began. These big arms sticking out of the back of the truck, in combination with the big two-by-fours sticking out of the back of the dumpster that the truck was carrying, clipped a couple of old magnolia trees. A few small branches fell down, the longest about three or four feet long, and nearly hit my car. I backed off and gave this truck plenty of room.

We crossed out of the square, and continued on Bryan Street headed towards the next square. As we passed what are most likely million dollar houses on half-acre lots, this truck starts hitting more branches. But, this time, the driver seems to realize it, and punches the accelerator to barrel on through.

As he continues, he clips several very big branches with his oversized truck. The branches come tumbling down with great force. The ripping process makes the telephone lines bounce, and he was lucky that the branch mess he left in his wake did not take the wires with it.

Now, I am not talking little tiny twigs here. I am talking huge branches. The largest of them, about eight inches in diameter, was ripped directly off the main trunk of the tree, which sat on private property. There were probably four to six very large branches that this truck snagged, and subsequently tore from the trees.

I had had enough. As we approached the yield to enter the next square, I started honking my horn and signaling that this guy should pull over. Apparently, he knew he had done something wrong (intentionally or accidentally, I do not know) because he did pull over. We both got out of our vehicles.

As I told him that his truck was ripping down trees left and right, and causing damage to people’s property, the homeowners/renters started filing out to see what exactly it was that just ripped huge limbs off their trees.

The guy in the truck insisted that he had to make a delivery. This made me angry. Jaime and I personally donate every two months to the city’s tree fund. This pays for maintenance for our trees, and the planting of new trees so that residents and visitors can enjoy our beautiful city for many years to come. (Yeah, I’m a conservative. Yeah, I donate to the tree fund. Is there a problem with this? :P)

I insisted that his delivery takes a back seat to our trees because– well– it does. Our city is fanatical about our trees, and for good reason. If there is a tree on city property that is the most diseased, dead, funky looking tree in the whole city, we will still have public hearings regarding the disposition of the tree.

The guy insisted that his truck was only twelve feet tall, as if that is some sort of justification for tearing down trees like he did without stopping to notify the owners of the damage, or to clean up the mess he created. I told him he needed to get out of the downtown area, and stick to main roads such as Broughton Street or Bay Street– both of which are maintained for truck traffic.

I told him he should call the cops, and he didn’t agree. He insisted that I was “freaking out” over nothing, that is until I then pointed to the fifteen or so witnesses standing at the end of the street. He quickly reconsidered. I wrote down his license plate number (which was on the front of the truck, not the back as required by law), wrote down the phone number to his work, and proceeded to turn around and head the wrong way down the one-way to get on to my destination.

I did what I had to do downtown, and headed back towards home. Once I got home, I phoned the city hall to let them know what had happened, to request that they have the city maintenance crews clear the road of the branches, and to request that they have one of the city’s arborists inspect and repair the trees if damage was found.

About forty-five minutes later, I needed to go back downtown. As I came back upon the place where I had left the truck, I found a city crew cleaning up the branches. The dumpster truck had advanced into the square, and there was a police car not far away.

You know I hate having to be a prick sometimes, but come on– if you pull down branches that are large enough to be trees themselves, and those trees are on private property, you damn well better stop and notify the owners so they can file claims against your insurance company for the damages that you caused, and the cleanup, and repair that was necessary as a result. That is, after all, why we have mandatory insurance. And when someone has to wave you down in order to get them to stop, do not expect them to be friendly, understanding, courteous, compassionate, or pleasant. Expect them to be angry, and expect them to let you know they are angry.

It is a sad day when a cold hearted, earth-hating conservative such as myself had more concern for the environment than a person who works for a company called Robco Environmental.

Hopefully the driver will be ticketed. If I were a city police officer, I would go over his vehicle with a fine-toothed comb, and write a citation for every single violation I found– no matter how minor it may be. Then again, if I were a city police officer, I would probably do what seems to be the acceptable standard down here and sit in the gas station parking lot instead of running my patrols.

Eh… that is all I’ve got.