The City had a “climate action plan” but had no plans for actual contemporary weather events: Climate Action Plan | The City of Portland, Oregon (portlandoregon.gov)
and
Editorial: Oregonians must build a culture of resilience – oregonlive.com
and
Multnomah County, Portland say they’ll do better during next weather emergency – oregonlive.com
A couple who fought to have the city preserve a group of trees, then had one of those trees fall on their house, slicing their home in half – and landing within five feet of where they had been sitting. In tree-hugging Pacific Northwest, what happens when one of the most powerful symbols of our collective identity hurts us? – oregonlive.com. The “experts” repeatedly blame “climate change” – no trees had ever fallen before in Portland’s entire history, apparently. (I know that is false since a tree from a neighbor’s yard fell on my son’s home a year ago, in Portland – but we all know, it was really due to climate change. It was definitely not due to the fact that the tree was known to be diseased and the neighbor had been seeking price quotes from arborists to have to it removed. It was definitely due to climate change. It’s Just Science. Portland -> ““The city is very committed to an equitable tree canopy.”)
The city was even charging permit fees to remove trees that were knocked down by the storm: Portland to waive permit fees for trees felled by January storm – oregonlive.com
They were planning for and spending money on dreamed up scenarios of the distant future, which may or may not happen, but apparently had not planned for the actual, contemporary weather event of a type that occurs often in the Pacific Northwest. Living near Seattle, we were without power for a week after an ice storm resulted in trees knocked down every 100 feet down the road, and trees fallen on to homes, including our neighbor’s home across the street. Last year, my son’s family, in Portland, had a tree come down on their home, causing $45,000 in damage. (The neighbor was aware of the weakened tree and their insurance company had to pay all costs – it helped that my son’s wife is an insurance lawyer – a benefit most homeowners did not have access to.)
In Portland, cutting down a tree requires sign off by licensed arborists, payment of enormous permit fees to the city (and the city can deny or delay your cutting a tree, even a diseased tree, as illustrated), and then a mandate to replace the cut tree with new trees. The city was trashed by the recent ice storm – and as the article suggests, the city was unprepared for a major winter storm.
In Portland, you need a permit to trim branches bigger than 1/2 inch in diameter, if they are city trees planted along the street, but for which the homeowner is 100% responsible. The city even denied permits to cut down trees – that ended up falling on homes. It was all due to climate change.
