The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-21
WHAT THE PARK BOARD CANNC


WHAT THE PARK BOARD CANNOT
DO.
1. The Board of Park Commissioners
street grass platS except for the purpose
of cutting grass and planting trees
thereon in accordance with the proVis-
ions of acts of the legislature of 1899.
2. The Board has power or money
to construct street grass plats or to sod
them or to sprinkle them. These matters
are wholly under the charge of the Com
mon Council and of the City Engineer
generally of the latter.
GRASS CUTTING ON STREET LAWNS.
g. Only when. the street grass plats
are in such a condition as to admit of the
use of lawn mower or at least of a
Scythe will the Park Beard undertake to
cut the grass thereon.
T. The way to get the grass cut on
any street lawn or portion thereof is to
get a petition to the Common Council
the abutting property on the street or
section of a street where the work is
desired. The blank form of this petition
will be furnished by the City Clerk. The
Council will turn the matter over to the
Park Board.
s. The cost of cutting grass on street
lawns is only from l to cents lIneal
foot front or an average of 50 cents for
fifty feet for the season. 1t is assessed
on the property abutting on the part of
the lawn where the grass is cut by the
Park Board.
Those who cut the grass themselves
are charged nothing. But the cost is SO
little that many property owners prefer
to have the Park Board Go it. AS for
sprinkling the street lawns it must either
be done by the City Engineer or by the
owner of the abutting property. The
Park Board has nothing to do with it.
It has no control over the citys sprink-
ling apparatus. See paragraph 2.
TREE PLANTING ON STREET
"A
G. The way to get trees planted on
any street is for a majority Of the own
ers of property on the street or section
of a street where the trees are needed
to unite in a petition to the Park Board
The blank form of such petition will be
Furnished to applicants by the City
Clerk.
I. The trees planted by the Park Board
are forty feet apart. The cost OF plant
ing them is usually from So to 81, de-
pending on the nature OF the soil, ana
is limited by law to So tree. rms IN
cludes the cost of caring for ana re-
It is assessed on the abutting property.
S. AS newly planted trees require
great deal Of water the Park Board
will not plant trees on any streets not
supplied with city water hydrants.
TRIMMING TREES ON A PUBLIC
STREET.
9. The Park Board has no fund nor
is there any city fund applicable to trim
ming trees on the public streets. But
the Superintendent of Parks will send
his expert tree men to trim trees on the
streets provided the owner of the abut-
ting property will pay the cost of the
same The charge is simply the wages
of the men for the time employed-1712
cents an hour. The trees on the public
streets do not belong as many suppose
to the owners of the abutting property,
even though he planted them. Ihey be-
long to the city and are under the gen
eraI control of the City Engineer and the
Council. But neither he nor the Coun n-
Gil has given authority to anybody but
the Superintendent of Parks to trim i'm
them. Persons are often employed by
property owners to do this, who are
without the requisite skill and training
and who simply mangle and deface the
trees. Sometimes at the instance of the
property owner who employs them, they
strip the tree of it's branches SO as to
make it a bare pole with a tuft of foliage
at the top, thus destroying all the
beauty and symmetry of the tree. To
make sure that the trees will be properly
trimmed application should be made to
the Superintendent of Parks.
By order of the Board of Park Com
J, A. WHEFLOCK,
President.